Netanyahu says Israel will continue Lebanon attacks

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said Israel will continue its attacks on Lebanon in a closely watched United Nations speech on Friday as hopes faded for a ceasefire that could head off an all-out regional war.
“As long as Hizbullah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly, referring to escalating violence between the Iran-backed Hizbullah and Israel.
“Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say enough is enough,” he said.
Several delegations walked out as Mr Netanyahu approached the lectern while supporters in the gallery cheered.
In southern Lebanon, Israel continued to strike at what it said was Hizbullah targets, while diplomats at the UN voiced fears the attacks could flare into a wider war that draws in Israel’s arch-foe, Iran.
In his speech, Mr Netanyahu sought to pin blame for the conflict on Iran, whose delegation was absent for the speech. He said Israel was defending itself against Tehran on seven fronts, including against Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen.
“There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East. Far from being lambs led to the slaughter, Israel soldiers have fought back with incredible courage,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall: We are winning,” he said.
Iran’s UN delegation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel will press on with discussions on ceasefire proposals for Lebanon in the days ahead, Mr Netanyahu said earlier on Friday, and Washington warned that further escalation would make it harder for civilians on both sides to return home.
But Mr Netanyahu insisted that Israel’s campaign would continue.
“We’ll continue degrading Hizbullah until all our objectives are made,” he told the UN assembly.
The Israeli prime minister also called for tougher action on Iran’s nuclear programme, including a return of UN sanctions which were lifted in 2015 under a nuclear deal with major world powers.
“I call on the security council to snap back UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, because we must all do everything in our power to ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons,” Mr Netanyahu said.
A security council resolution, which enshrined the nuclear deal and provided the power to restore UN sanctions, expires in October 2025.
Mr Netanyahu reiterated his earlier assertions that Israel would block Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Iran now seeks to weaponise its nuclear program for the sake of the peace and security of all your countries, and I assure you, Israel will do everything in its power to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
On the conflict in Gaza, where US-led ceasefire talks have stalled, Mr Netanyahu said the war can end if Hamas militants who carried out an October 7th attack in Israel surrender, lay down their weapons and return hostages seized in the attack.
“We’ll fight until we achieve victory, total victory, there is no substitute for it,” he said.
During the speech, he cited the presence in the hall of families of hostages seized by Hamas on October 7th. The war began when Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military has levelled swathes of the besieged Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the speech.
“Netanyahu’s speech is full of lies and contradictions, and the withdrawal of many delegations from the hall is a message that Netanyahu’s lies are no longer believed by anyone,” Mr Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
“Netanyahu’s call for Hamas to surrender is nonsense; surrender is not in the movement’s vocabulary, and the problem lies in the existence of the occupation, not with those who are defending themselves,” Abu Zuhri said.
The two general assembly speakers before Mr Netanyahu thumped the lectern as they spoke. Slovenia’s prime minister Robert Golob said: “Mr Netanyahu, stop this war now.” Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said: “We must act now and demand an immediate end to this bloodshed.”
An Israeli strike on Friday killed nine members of a family, including four children, in the Lebanese border town of Shebaa, mayor Mohammad Saab told Reuters. Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Monday, the health ministry says.
Hizbullah said it had fired rockets into Israel on Friday at Kiryat Ata near the city of Haifa some 30km from the border, and the city of Tiberias, describing the attacks as a response to Israel strikes on villages, cities and civilians.
Although Israeli air defences have shot down many of Hizbullah’s rockets, limiting the damage they have done, the group’s attacks have shut down normal life across much of northern Israel.
The Israeli military said it had intercepted four unmanned aircraft that crossed from Lebanese territory into the maritime space off the coast of Rosh Hanikra at the Lebanese border.
The conflict between Israel and the heavily armed Hizbullah is their worst in more than 18 years and part of the spillover that has swept through the Middle East as a result of the Gaza war.
Syrian state media reported that an Israeli air strike on Friday killed five soldiers in Syria, where Israel has intensified a years-long campaign aimed at reducing the influence of Iran and Hizbullah.
Israel says its campaign aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who have been forced to evacuate areas near the Lebanese border over the last year of hostilities.
Hizbullah began firing at Israel on October 8th as the Gaza war began, declaring solidarity with the Palestinians. Hizbullah has said it will only cease fire when Israel’s Gaza offensive ends.
In Lebanon, more than 90,000 people have been reported as newly displaced this week, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration, adding to more than 111,000 already uprooted by the conflict.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said 30,000 people had crossed from Lebanon into Syria in the last few days, 80 per cent of them Syrians. Well over a million Syrians fled to Lebanon during the Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011. – Reuters.