Israel rejects cease-fire proposal from US, allies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a temporary cease-fire proposal with Hezbollah, offered by the U.S. and several allies this week, and vowed to continue fighting against the Lebanese militant group.

A Thursday statement from Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister has “not even responded to” the proposal and that “the purported directive to ease up on the fighting in the north is the opposite of the truth.”

“The Prime Minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan that was presented to him,” the statement reads, referring to the Israeli military. “The fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also rejected a cease-fire in the north.

“There will be no ceasefire in the north,” he posted on the social platform X. “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.”

There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah or Lebanon’s government on the potential cease-fire agreement.

The U.S. and French-led proposal, released Wednesday, called for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah, which are inching near a full-scale war after an intense exchange of strikes and rocket attacks in the past week.

The proposal was signed by Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

A senior Biden administration official said Wednesday night that the U.S. hopes for Lebanon and Israel to accept the proposal, which will involve negotiations for an agreement along the Blue Line, a boundary between the two countries, before the 21-day truce is up.

The negotiations would seek to resolve the crisis of the about 60,000 displaced Israeli residents from the northern border with Lebanon. Israel has stated returning those residents home to a safe zone is now a war goal.

With the war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas largely dying down, Israel has escalated its attacks against Hezbollah this month, allegedly exploding pagers and handheld radios that targeted the group last week and conducting massive strikes over several days, including a Monday attack that killed more than 500 people.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since Oct. 8, but it has largely been limited to cross-border attacks. Hezbollah has tied its operations to the war in Gaza in support of Hamas. U.S. diplomatic efforts have failed for months to stop the fighting.

Israel’s top general warned Wednesday that troops were preparing for a ground invasion of Lebanon.