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Amid International Pressure, Top Israeli Leaders Say ‘There Will Be No Ceasefire’ With Hezbollah
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon, Sept. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Top Israeli leaders have indicated they will not agree to a ceasefire with the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon amid the international community’s push for one.
“There will be no ceasefire in the north,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz posted on X/Twitter on Thursday. “We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a similar stance after he landed in New York on Thursday to address the UN General Assembly the following day.
“Our policy is clear: We continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“We will not stop until we achieve all of our goals, first of all returning the residents of the north safely to their homes,” the Israeli premier added. “This is the policy, and no one should make a mistake about that.”
Hezbollah has been pummeling northern Israeli communities almost daily with barrages of drones, rockets, and missiles from its stronghold of Lebanon, which borders the Jewish state, since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas invaded Israel from neighboring Gaza to the south on Oct. 7.
More than 60,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes in northern Israel and flee to other parts of the country amid the unrelenting attacks from Hezbollah, which wields significant political and military influence across Lebanon.
The conflict has escalated over the past week, with both sides increasing the scale and intensity of their strikes.
Israeli leaders have said for months they seek a diplomatic resolution to the conflict with Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon but are prepared to use large-scale military force if needed to ensure all citizens can safely return to their homes. Last week, Israel’s security cabinet expanded its war goals to include returning the displaced Israelis from the north.
Amid the major uptick in military strikes over the past several days, the US under the Biden administration and France have spearheaded an international push to stop the hostilities.
The subject of a ceasefire was reportedly not mentioned in Israel’s political-security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“The direction is that we are not going to a ceasefire in Lebanon now but to continue fighting against Hezbollah,” a member of Netanyahu’s entourage told reporters, according to Israeli media reports. “We remain committed to returning the residents in the north to their homes.”
However, several countries have been aggressively pushing for a ceasefire this week. A joint statement by the US, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Qatar released on Wednesday read: “It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.”
“Diplomacy however cannot succeed amid an escalation of this conflict,” it continued. “Thus we call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR [UN Security Council Resolution] 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.”
UNSCR 1701 required the disarmament of Hezbollah. However, since then, Iran’s chief proxy force has built up its weapons arsenal to threaten Israel, and the terrorist group has shown no indications it is willing to consider disarming.
Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah have been ongoing since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah began its bombardment of northern Israel. However, Hezbollah has tied its willingness to agree to a cessation of hostilities to an end of the war against Hamas in Gaza — which has stifled negotiations.
Netanyahu’s reaction to the push for a ceasefire may have come as a surprise to some American officials. Journalist Barack Ravid, reporting for Walla, wrote that Netanyahu “was involved in formulating” the temporary ceasefire proposal, but backed out “after the threats from the far-right ministers in the government and the attacks from the opposition.”
Reportedly, in a Monday call, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer agreed with an American counterpart that “a temporary ceasefire was the right thing to do and that the US would aim to publicize the ceasefire initiative.”
Originally, Netanyahu was reportedly amenable to such a deal because according to a source knowledgeable of the talks, “he does not want to be dragged into a ground invasion that could lead to entanglement and erode the achievements that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has achieved so far.”
However, some reports have indicated that Netanyahu had initially expressed a willingness to agree to a ceasefire if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was willing to accept such a deal as well, knowing the terror chief would not do so. But, according to the reports, US officials nonetheless indicated that the Israeli premier was fully on board with the ceasefire in a bid to exert media and diplomatic pressure to compel him to accept it.
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IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – The IDF released a statement after an incident during which Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli civilians in the West Bank on Saturday night, denying that the trooped fired live ammunition.
This comes at the heels of arson incidents by settlers against Palestinian villages, with clashes breaking out. The IDF said that its soldiers had come under attack on Friday as they entered the area of Kafr Malik, the site of the disturbances, by Israeli civilians. “The undermining of the rule of law and the use of violence by a radical minority harm security and stability in the area.”
The IDF later said that “an initial investigation indicates that IDF forces did not fire live ammunition at Israeli civilians in the area. It should be clarified that the battalion commander’s force operating in the Baal Hatzor area of the Binyamin brigade did not fire live ammunition at all.” On the other hand, the civilians claimed this was false, posting a video that showed shell casings on the ground right next to where the troops were deployed.
Meanwhile, the police requested the remand of six individuals, two of whom are minors, to be extended in connection with the incident.
The IDF later said that, “in another area within the sector, stones were thrown at a military vehicle near the site of the clash by masked individuals from an ambush. The force responded with a warning shot of three bullets.” A possible connection “between this incident and the claim that an Israeli civilian was injured by live fire” is being investigated.
After the incidents late last week, the IDF issued an unusual directive for soldiers to exercise special vigilance and also prepare for scenarios involving nationalist incidents perpetrated by Israeli citizens. The directive was issued after a military vehicle was set on fire inside a Jewish settlement, the tires of an armored David vehicle were punctured, and a community policing caravan near the community of Beit El was also set on fire.
“The security establishment system is highly alert,” a security official told i24NEWS. “We are seeing an escalation on the ground – and if you cannot leave a military vehicle in a Jewish community without it being burned in the sector, it is a sign that the situation is dangerous.”
The post IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End
US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations,” the military said.
The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army’s bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives arrived to pay their respects to white-shrouded bodies before they are buried.
“A month ago, they (Israel) told us to go to Al-Mawasi (in Khan Younis) and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone,” said Zeyad Abu Marouf. He said three of his children were killed and a fourth was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.
“We ask God and the Arabs to move and end this occupation and the injustice taking place against us,” Abu Marouf told Reuters.
NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH
The military escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened following US and Israeli bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed to Gazans in the ruined enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group’s outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end the war if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
The post Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Yet Against Ukraine, Kills F-16 Pilot
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 537 drones and missiles against targets throughout Ukraine overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in what what described as the largest attack of the war.
Poland activated aerial defenses and scrambled jets as the six-hour onslaught continued. One Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed as Kyiv attempted to intercept the missiles and drones, with 475 shot down.
“Tragically, while repelling the attack, our F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died. Today, he destroyed seven aerial targets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Ustymenko did everything possible, but his jet was damaged and started losing altitude,” the air force said, as quoted in Politico. “He died like a hero!”
The cities of Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv were targeted.
The Russia attack came after Ukraine attacked the Kirovske airfield in the Crimean Peninsula, targeting air defenses, drones, and even destroying several helicopters and an air defense system.
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