Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire with Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah until the Jewish state is safe for residents in the north to return to their homes and until there is no security threat from Lebanon, Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday.
"The Prime Minister said during the conversation that he is against a unilateral ceasefire, which will not change the security situation in Lebanon, but will only return it to its previous course. He stressed that Israel is acting against the Hezbollah terrorist organization ... in order to allow the people of the north to return safely to their homes," the office said.
In early October, the UN reported more than 1,000 deaths in Lebanon in just two weeks as a result of Israeli strikes, and nearly one million people have been internally displaced.