NEW YORK >> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to carry out “full force” strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon until it ceases firing rockets across the Israeli border, dimming hopes for a cease-fire proposal put forth by U.S. and European officials.

Israel carried out a new strike in the Lebanese capital, which killed a senior Hezbollah commander, and the militant 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.

‘Policy is clear’

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week as Israel dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting the military capacity of Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed Shiite group that is the strongest armed force in Lebanon. Israeli leaders say they are determined to stop the group’s cross-border attacks, which began after the Hamas militant group’s Oct. 7 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.

The Health Ministry said two people were killed and 15 wounded in the strike.

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. One strike in eastern Lebanon on Thursday killed 20 people, most of them Syrian migrants, according to Lebanese health officials.

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.

Talk of ground invasion

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. Some 100,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the past week, streaming into Beirut and points further north.

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.

View from Lebanon

Abdallah Bouhabib, Lebanon’s foreign minister, called for an immediate cease-fire “on all fronts,” warning that continued violence at his nation’s border will “transform into a black hole that will engulf international and regional peace and security.”

Bouhabib, speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, decried Israel’s “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”

“The crisis in Lebanon threatens the entire Middle East,” Bouhabib said. “We wish today to reiterate our call for a cease-fire on all fronts.”

He said Lebanon welcomes efforts by the United States and France to move urgently toward a cease-fire before things spin out of control.

Hezbollah has not yet responded to the proposal.

The escalation has raised fears of a repeat — or worse — of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah that wreaked destruction across southern Lebanon and other parts of the country and saw heavy Hezbollah rocket fire on Israeli cities.

“Another full-scale war could be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after talks with his British and Australian counterparts in London.

Political considerations

One of Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners threatened to suspend cooperation with his government if it signs onto a temporary cease-fire with Hezbollah — and to quit completely if a permanent deal is reached. It was the latest sign of displeasure from Netanyahu’s allies toward international cease-fire efforts.

“If a temporary cease-fire becomes permanent, we will resign from the government,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party.

If Ben-Gvir leaves the coalition, Netanyahu would lose his parliamentary majority. That could topple his government, though opposition leaders have said they would offer support for a cease-fire deal.

Connection to Gaza

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.

One day after Hamas’ Oct 7 attack, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel, bringing Israeli counterfire and a cycle of reprisals since. Hezbollah says its barrages are a show of support for Palestinians and that it is targeting Israeli military facilities, though rockets have also hit civilian areas.

Before this week, the cross-border exchanges had killed about 600 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but including more than 100 civilians, and about four dozen people in Israel, roughly half of them soldiers and the rest civilians. The fighting also forced tens of thousands to flee homes on both sides of the border.