The UK has joined the US and France and a number of other allies in calling for a 21-day ceasefire in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
More than 600 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon this week, as Israel carried out an extensive bombing campaign days after a pair of attacks causing Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies to explode. Around 600 people have been killed and thousands more wounded in the strikes.
Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets towards Israel including one at Tel Aviv – but most have been intercepted by Israeli defence systems.
Israeli army general Lt Gen Herzi Halevi told troops to ready themselves for a ground invasion, “will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts”.
US President Joe Biden is among the Western leaders to express fears of an all-out war and UN secretary-general António Guterres, has told a UN security council meeting that “hell is breaking loose”.
The UK has now joined calls for a 21-day ceasefire. But what does this actually mean, and will Israel accept it?
What would a 21-day ceasefire look like?
The UK, US, France, have been joined by nine other countries – Australia, Canada, European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar – in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
In a joint statement, they described the situation in Lebanon as “intolerable” and in “nobody’s interest”.
“It is time to conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety,” the statement said.
“Diplomacy however cannot succeed amid an escalation of this conflict.”
An “immediate 21-day ceasefire” would provide “space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement”, the statement added.
The signatories would aim to achieve a diplomatic settlement between Israel and Lebanon within the 21-day period, it adds.
It comes after the US and France issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire, saying that the escalation in the past two weeks “threatens a much broader conflict, and harm to civilians”.
Will Israel accept it?
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had not responded to the US-French ceasefire proposal, but called news of a truce “not true”.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said in a statement: “The news about a ceasefire – not true. This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond.”
He has instead ordered the Israeli military to continue fighting at full power.
The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, said on X, formely Twitter: “There will be no ceasefire in the north We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
It comes as Mr Netanyahu prepares to join world leaders at the UN summit in New York, where he will face growing pressure to accept the proposal. Much will depend on Washington’s appetite for pushing a ceasefire through and how much they can convince Mr Netanyahu it is in his interests.
far-right members of Mr Netanyahu’s governing coalition has, as with the war in Gaza, outright rejected suggestions for a ceasefire.
On Thursday morning, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X: The campaign in the north should end with a single result: crushing Hezbollah and elimination of its ability to harm the residents of the north.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid has called for a 7-day ceasefire. He said Israel should accept the plan but “only for seven days so as not to allow Hezbollah to restore its command and control systems”.