Israel strike kills another Hezbollah commander, PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects US plea for ceasefire | Top updates

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to use 'full force' against Hezbollah and bombard the military group's targets indefinitely after rejecting a ceasefire push by the United States. Its key backer, the US, urged for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

Let's have a look at Israel-Hezbollah conflict top updates here:

• The Israeli Prime Minister asserted in New York that airstrikes would continue until all of Israel’s objectives have been achieved. He visited the US to address the annual United Nations General Assembly.
• An Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs killed Hezbollah drone commander Mohammad Hussein Srour, the Iranian-backed Shiite group confirmed in a statement. This marks a significant blow to Hezbollah, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) wrote in a post on X , “Eliminated: Commander of Hezbollah's Aerial Command, Muhammad Hussein Srour, in a precise IAF strike in Beirut.”

• This comes after Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had expressed hope for a ceasefire.
• Benjamin Netanyahu said, "We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”
• Foreign minister Israel Katz in a post on X earlier said, “There will be no cease-fire." At the same time, defence minister Yoav Gallant emphasised that the aim of the armed forces is to keep “throwing Hezbollah off balance and deepening their loss.”

• These statements by Israel’s leaders reject three-week ceasefire plea of US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, Bloomberg reported.
• Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib claimed that half a million people have been displaced inside the country by the Israeli bombardment. Lebanon's health ministry said late Thursday Israeli strikes had killed 92 people in the country and injured 153 in the past 24 hours.
• According to an AP report, around 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week after Israel dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting the military capacity of Hezbollah. Over 1,500 people have been killed since hostilities began.

• On Wednesday, a number of countries including the US, European states, Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern nations urged for a pause in fighting, after Israel signalled that it was preparing a possible ground invasion of Lebanon. The ceasefire plea was in response to the possibility of spiralling the regional conflict and dragging in the US and Iran.
• US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said that “another full-scale war could be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon". He further suggested that a diplomatic solution "is the only way to ensure that displaced civilians on both sides of the border can finally go back home.”

Following Netanyahu's statement, the White House said, “Netanyahu and Israeli people have every right to thwart threat to their peace and security,” reported Reuters. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said it would be a 'mistake' for Israeli PM to 'refuse' a ceasefire in Lebanon. Citing the "absolutely shocking" number of civilian casualties, the French President warned against Lebanon “becoming a new Gaza”.

(With inputs from Bloomberg, AP, AFP and Reuters)