UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed at the UN Friday to press his country's offensive against Lebanon's Hizbollah, dashing hopes for a 21-day truce proposed by France and the United States this week.
Netanyahu's highly anticipated turn at the UN, during which he repeatedly denounced the global organisation as anti-Israel, was met with jeers by some delegates who walked out, but cheers and applause from his backers.
"As long as Hizbollah 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 safe," Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly.
"We will continue degrading Hizbollah until all our objectives are met."
His remarks appeared to undermine a truce proposal unveiled by the United States and France after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the UN gathering.
The White House has said that the call for a ceasefire had been "coordinated" with Israel, but Netanyahu's office on Thursday said that the prime minister has not responded to the proposal.
Netanyahu also threatened Iran in his UN address, saying: "I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you."
"There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that's true of the entire Middle East," he added.
Delegates, including from Lebanon, Iran and the Palestinians, exited the room as Netanyahu took the rostrum for his speech.
"After I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight," Netanyahu said at the start of his speech.
Ahead of his appearance, protesters gathered outside Netanyahu's hotel in New York to demand an end to the violence in Gaza and Lebanon.
Hizbollah and Israel have been locked in a deadly exchange of cross-border fire since the Iran-backed group's Palestinian ally, Hamas, attacked Israel on October 7.
Netanyahu vowed Friday that "Hamas has got to go" and would have no role in the reconstruction of Gaza as he vowed to fight until "total victory."
Since Monday, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to its northern front with Lebanon where heavy bombing has killed 700 people and sparked an exodus of around 118,000 people.
The UN said Friday that a "catastrophic" intensification of Israeli attacks targeting Hizbollah had left Lebanon facing its "deadliest period... in a generation."
The Israeli strikes have brought the overall death toll in Lebanon to more than 1,500 people killed in nearly a year of clashes, according to Lebanese authorities.
That toll surpasses the 1,200 mostly civilians killed during the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah, which also killed around 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.--AFP