Netanyahu vows to use ‘full force’ against Hezbollah

NEW YORK — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to carry out “full force” strikes against Hezbollah until it ceases firing rockets across the border.

Israel carried out a new strike in the Lebanese capital, which killed a senior Hezbollah commander, and the terrorist group launched dozens of rockets into Israel. Tens of thousands of Israeli and Lebanese people living near their countries’ border have been displaced by the fighting.

Netanyahu spoke as he arrived in New York to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, where U.S. and European officials were putting heavy pressure on both sides of the conflict to accept a proposed 21-day halt in the fighting to give time for diplomacy and avert all-out war.

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week as Israel targets the military capacity of Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group that is the strongest armed force in Lebanon. Israeli leaders say they are determined to stop the terrorist group’s cross-border attacks, which began after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

Israel’s “policy is clear,” 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.”

Later, the prime minister’s office said in a statement that Israel and U.S. officials met Thursday to discuss the cease-fire proposal and would continue talks in coming days.

One of Israel’s latest airstrikes killed a Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour, in the suburbs of Beirut. Israel’s military announced the death, which Hezbollah later confirmed.

Until recently, Israel had rarely targeted sites in Beirut during the low-level conflict with Hezbollah that began in October. But it has struck Beirut’s southern suburbs several times this week.

Several strikes in Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah commanders.

Israel hit 75 sites early Thursday across southern and eastern Lebanon and launched a new wave of strikes in the evening, the military said.

Throughout the day, Hezbollah fired some 175 projectiles into Israel, the Israeli military said. Most were intercepted or fell in open areas, sparking some wildfires, though one rocket hit a street in a town near the northern city of Safed.

Israel has talked of a possible ground invasion into Lebanon to drive Hezbollah away from the border. It has moved thousands of troops to the north in preparation.

Israeli military vehicles transported tanks and armored vehicles toward the country’s northern border with Lebanon a day after commanders issued a call-up of reservists. Several tanks arrived in Kiryat Shmona, a hard-hit town just several miles from the border.

Lebanon’s foreign minister called for an immediate cease-fire “on all fronts.” Abdallah Bouhabib, speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, decried Israel’s “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”

Israel’s military on Friday also said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen that set off air raid sirens across the country’s center. Sirens rang out across Israel’s populous central area, including the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv. Another missile from Yemen landed in central Israel about two weeks ago.

In Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed it struck the school in the Jabalia refugee camp, saying it was targeting Hamas terrorists inside who were planning attacks on Israeli troops.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza, vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack, during which terrorists killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. It blames civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, because the group’s fighters operate in residential areas and use civilian infrastructure.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry’s count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.