Israel Defies Ceasefire Calls in Lebanon
Israel rejected a push by allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah militants "until victory", ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expected address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday.
Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.
The United States, France and other allies unveiled the 21-day truce on Wednesday, after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
But Israeli leader Netanyahu flatly rejected the ceasefire proposal on Thursday, ordering the military to continue "fighting with full force".
The White House expressed frustration at the rejection, saying the truce proposal had taken "a lot of care and effort".
"We wouldn't have made that statement, we wouldn't have worked on that if we didn't have reason to believe that the conversations that we were having with the Israelis in particular, were supportive of the goal there," National Security spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday.
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