Region

UNITED NATIONS, United States — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Thursday on the international community to stop sending weapons to Israel in order to halt bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza, singling out the United States.

Abbas said that Washington continued to provide diplomatic cover and weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza despite the mounting death toll there, now at 41,534 according to the health ministry in the strip.

"Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank," Abbas said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.

"The US alone stood and said: 'No, the fighting is going to continue.' It did this by using the veto," he said, referring to the veto repeatedly wielded to thwart censure in the UN Security Council of Israel's campaign in Gaza.

"It furnished Israel with the deadly weapons that it used to kill thousands of innocent civilians, children and women. 

"This further encouraged Israel to continuous aggression," he added, saying that Israel "does not deserve" to be in the UN.

Washington is Israel's closest ally and backer, supplying the nation with billions of dollars of aid and military materiel.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon said Thursday that more than 1,500 people had been killed in almost a year of cross-border violence between Hezbollah and the Israeli army that has spiralled dramatically this week.

According to figures in a statement released by the country's disaster management unit, 1,540 people have been killed, 60 of them in the past 24 hours, and 5,410 wounded in the ongoing hostilities. 

The US and French leaders pressed jointly Wednesday for an immediate 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, in a call joined by allies as the death toll mounts from Israeli strikes on Hizbollah.

Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York as they voiced fears that the conflict, after a year of bloodshed in Gaza, would escalate into a full-blown regional war.

The situation in Lebanon has become "intolerable" and "is in nobody's interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon," said a joint statement released by the White House.

"We call for an immediate 21 day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement."

The statement was issued jointly with Western powers, Japan and key Gulf Arab powers -- Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier unveiled the proposal at an emergency Security Council session.

"There has been important progress in the past few hours," Barrot said.

"We've been working since the start of the week in New York on a diplomatic solution with our American friends in particular."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and warned, "Hell is breaking loose." 

Israel said it welcomed diplomacy on Lebanon but did not commit to a ceasefire, vowing to pursue its goal of degrading Hizbollah. 

"We are grateful for all those who are making a sincere effort with diplomacy to avoid escalation, to avoid a full war," Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told reporters before entering the session.

But he added: "We will use all means at our disposal, in accordance with international law, to achieve our aims."

The violence comes after the failure to reach a ceasefire in Gaza where Israel for nearly a year has been seeking to wipe out another Iranian ally, Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack ever on Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that Tehran, which in recent weeks has held back on retaliatory strikes on Israel after attacks targeting Iranian interests, may no longer be restrained.

"The region is on the brink of a full-scale catastrophe. If unchecked, the world will face catastrophic consequences," he told reporters.

Hizbollah holds powerful influence within long-turbulent Lebanon. The country's foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, asked by reporters if a ceasefire was possible, said: "Hopefully yes."

 'Acute' risk of escalation 

Israel went ahead with the offensive in Lebanon despite repeated appeals by the United States to avoid a wider war. 

"Risk of escalation in the region is acute," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has made 10 trips to the Middle East since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. 

Israel and Hezbollah had been skirmishing since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, but at a lower level. 

Last week pagers and other handheld communications devices of Hizbollah exploded in an operation widely attributed to Israel.

Hundreds have died and thousands have been displaced since Israel launched its strikes, with the Lebanese health ministry saying that another 72 people died on Wednesday.

Diplomats said that the United States was no longer directly linking its struggling push for a Gaza ceasefire with Lebanon efforts due to the urgency of the crisis.

"An all-out war is possible," Biden said on ABC's chat show "The View."

"What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region," Biden said.

Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council he was concerned by deaths in Lebanon.

But he also pinned blame on Hizbollah, accusing it of violating Security Council resolutions through its alliance with Hamas since October 7.

"Nobody wants to see a repeat of the full-blown war that occurred in 2006," Wood said.

But he said that any end to the conflict needed to include a "comprehensive understanding" that preserves calm along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon said 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including two rare strikes in mountain areas outside Hizbollah's traditional strongholds in the south and east.

The health ministry said an Israeli strike on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains, southeast of Beirut, killed four people. 

Another Israeli strike killed three people in Maaysra -- a Shiite-majority village in a mostly Christian mountain area about 25 kilometres north of Beirut.

Eight people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south, the ministry said.

Earlier, a Lebanese security official had told AFP "an Israeli strike targeted a house in the village of Maaysra", requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

A resident said the strike hit her village, destroying a house and a cafe.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that "two rockets fell in Maaysra".

The Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hizbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time before being intercepted.

Longtime foes Hizbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire since Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, sparking war in Gaza.

The focus of Israel's firepower has shifted sharply from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday warned Israel would not stop its military operations against Hizbollah until northern residents can safely return to their homes.

"We are striking Hizbollah with blows it never imagined. We are doing this with full force, we are doing this with guile. One thing I promise you: we will not rest until they return home", Netanyahu said in a statement.

Earlier in the evening, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi told soldiers to be prepared for possible entry into Lebanon.

"We are not stopping. We will keep attacking and harming (Hezbollah) everywhere," Halevi said.

"To do this, we are preparing for the course of the manoeuvre, and the sense is that your military boots, your manoeuvre boots, will enter enemy territory.

"These are the things that will allow us to safely repatriate the residents of the north later," the army chief added.