Netanyahu vows 'no ceasefire' in Lebanon after Hezbollah threats

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of a ceasefire in Lebanon that would leave Hezbollah close to his country's northern border, as the militant group threatened to widen its attacks.

Netanyahu's comments came as the United States ramped up pressure over Israel's conduct of the wars in Lebanon and Gaza, criticizing the recent bombing of Beirut and demanding that more aid reach the Palestinian territory.

In a call Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu said he was "opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was", according to a statement from his office.

Macron stressed “the absolute necessity of a cease-fire without further delay in Lebanon” and called for Israel to stop operations there.

Macron urged Israel “to put an end to this unjustifiable targeting," according to a statement from his office, which also said France would continue to work with troop contributors and alongside the United Nations Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of the mission of the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.

Netanyahu said in a statement after the call that he was opposed to a unilateral cease-fire. He said he would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide security for residents of northern Israel and “does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping.”

Netanyahu and the Israeli military have insisted there must be a buffer zone along Israel's border with Lebanon where there is no presence of Hezbollah fighters.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified that Israel would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this (a buffer zone) and which does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping," the statement said.

In a defiant televised speech, Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution was a ceasefire while threatening to expand the scope of its missile strikes across Israel.

"Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place" in Israel, he said.

In another day of fighting Tuesday, the Iran-backed group said it launched a barrage of rockets towards the northern Israeli city of Haifa and targeted Israeli bulldozers and a tank near the border.

Israel's military bombed several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the Bekaa Valley where a hospital in Baalbek city was put out of service, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported.

It also said it had captured three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon.

Lebanon's health ministry said nine people were killed Tuesday evening in strikes on the country's south, and five others in the east, including three children.

Asked about Israeli air strikes in Lebanon in which residential buildings in central Beirut were hit on October 10, the U.S. State Department voiced open criticism.

"We have made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we've seen it conducted over the past weeks" in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

In a letter sent to the Israeli government on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also warned that the United States could withhold weapons deliveries unless more humanitarian aid was delivered to Palestinians in Gaza.

The letter made "clear to the government of Israel that there are changes that they need to make again to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today," Miller said.

- 'Worst restrictions' -

Despite the need for food, medical supplies and shelter in hunger-ravaged Gaza, a spokesman for the U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF said Tuesday that aid was facing the tightest restrictions since the start of Israel's offensive in October last year.

"We see now what is probably the worst restrictions we've seen on humanitarian aid, ever," spokesman James Elder said in Geneva, adding that there were "several days in the last week (where) no commercial trucks whatsoever were allowed to come in".

- Lebanon strikes -

Israel escalated its air campaign on Lebanon from September 23 and then launched a ground offensive a week later intended to push Hezbollah back from its northern border.

Hezbollah has been firing thousands of projectiles into Israel over the last year in support of Gaza, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.

At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel escalated its bombing last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The war in Lebanon, which has suffered years of economic crisis, has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.

Israel is also weighing how to respond to Iran's decision to launch around 200 missiles at the country on October 1.

Netanyahu's office said that Israel -- and not its top ally the United States -- would decide how to strike back.

"We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest," it said Tuesday.

The Iranian barrage was in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Lebanon's Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan.

U.S. President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel's top arms supplier, has warned Israel against striking Iran's nuclear or oil facilities.

According to a Washington Post report on Monday citing unnamed U.S. officials, Netanyahu reassured the White House that Israel was contemplating targeting only military sites.