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Netanyahu departs for New York, denies report of impending truce with Hezbollah

Israel has yet to respond to American-French proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Netanyahu says, denying claims by US officials of an impending truce.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied reports that his government and the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah are set to begin a three-week truce within the next few hours.

Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, departed via Ben Gurion International Airport before dawn Thursday morning, flying to New York for the prime minister’s address to the United Nations General Assembly.

The premier, who made no statements to the press before his departure, which was delayed this week following the latest round of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and a Hezbollah ballistic missile attack on the Tel Aviv area, did release a statement while en route to New York regarding an alleged truce set to go into effect “in the coming hours.”

The prime minister’s office issued a statement rebutting claims made by senior U.S. officials, denying that Israel had agreed to the plan, drafted by the Biden administration and the Macron government, for a three-week truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

“The report about a ceasefire is incorrect. This is an American-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to.”

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“The report about the purported directive to ease up on the fighting in the north is the opposite of the truth. The Prime Minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force, according to the plan that was presented to him.”

“The fighting in Gaza will also continue until all the objectives of the war have been achieved.”

Earlier on Thursday, Sky News quoted senior American officials who said that a breakthrough had been reached on a ceasefire, and that the truce was set to go into effect within a matter of hours.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid pushed back against the planned three-week ceasefire, saying Israel should only agree to a single-week truce, so as to avoid giving Hezbollah time to regroup after a wave of Israeli attacks.

Coalition members and local leaders across northern Israel expressed outrage following the Sky News report, demanding the government continue combat operations against Hezbollah.