EL AVIV, Sept 26: The Israeli prime minister on Thursday appeared to downplay hopes of an imminent truce with Hezbollah after the United States and its allies called for an immediate 21-day cease-fire to "provide space for diplomacy." A new Israeli strike hit the Lebanese capital, rocking an apartment building with an explosion.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was en route to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, his office said there had been no directive to ease up on fighting on the northern border with Lebanon. It said that there was only a proposal for a cease-fire on the table and that Netanyahu had not responded to it.
The statement tempered hopes for the international initiative aimed at halting increasingly heavy exchanges of fire that have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and threatened to trigger an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has talked of a possible ground invasion into Lebanon to push the militant group away from the border.
Soon after the statement was issued, Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar reported an Israeli airstrike in a suburb of Beirut. It and other stations showed a damaged apartment building in Dahiyeh, the mainly Shiite suburb where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
Two people were killed and 15 wounded in the strike, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said it carried out a strike south of Beirut without elaborating. Over the past week, it has carried out several strikes in Beirut targeting senior Hezbollah commanders. Earlier in the day, a strike in eastern Lebanon killed 20 people, most of them Syrian migrants, according to Lebanese health officials.
Israel has dramatically stepped up its bombardment in Lebanon, saying it is determined to stop Hezbollah's near-daily rocket volleys over the past 11 months that have forced tens of thousands to evacuate homes in northern Israel.
Strikes since Monday have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon, around a quarter of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Intensifying Hezbollah barrages have wounded several people in Israel.
Hezbollah has not yet responded to the proposal for a pause in fighting. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed it, but his government has no sway over the group.
Hezbollah has insisted it would halt its strikes only if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has battled Hamas for nearly a year.
That appears out of reach despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. —AP
