Netanyahu, at UN, vows that Israel will keep 'degrading Hezbollah' until its objectives are met

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — His leadership strained by conflicts on two fronts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told world leaders at the United Nations on Friday that his nation will “continue degrading Hezbollah" until achieving its goals along the Lebanon border, further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire to halt the spiral into an all-out regional war. He said his government would no longer tolerate daily rocket fire from the area.

Shortly after Netanyahu wrapped up his speech, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike on Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut, which caused huge blasts in the city.

“Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing ... we’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met," Netanyahu said to a gallery that — at least from the crowd noise — appeared replete with his supporters.

“Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns ... How long would the American government tolerate that?" he said, shaking his fist in emphasis. “Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for almost a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say: Enough is enough.”

Netanyahu, armed with visual aids as he has been in the past, defended his nation's response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip. He said he traveled to the United Nations to refute the untruths he had heard from other leaders on the same rostrum earlier in the week.

“I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war fighting for its life," Netanyahu said. "But 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.”

He insisted that Israel wanted peace but said of Iran: “If you strike us, we will strike you.” He once again blamed Iran for being behind many of the problems in the region.

“For too long, the world has appeased Iran," Netanyahu said. “That appeasement must end.”

As he spoke, the seats in the Iran delegation sat empty. Outside, protesters against Netanyahu and Israel's policies demonstrated behind police barricades.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of 2.

Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself.

“This war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages," Netanyahu said. "But if they don’t – if they don’t – we will fight until we achieve total victory. Total victory. There is no substitute for it. “

He said Israeli forces have destroyed “90%” of Hamas’ rockets and killed or captured half of its forces. But he insisted nonetheless that he was pursuing peace. “Israel has made peace and will make peace again,” he said.

In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it is has stepped up strikes targeting Hezbollah but has inflicted civilian casualties as well. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after the Hamas attack, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. That triggered Israeli counterfire and the two sides have traded fire almost daily for the 11 months since, driving tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.

Israel vows to drive Hezbollah away from the border to allow its citizens to return safely to their homes. Hezbollah says it won’t stop firing rockets until the Gaza war ends. Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that this week’s escalation could spiral into an all-out war. Hezbollah hasn’t officially responded to the ceasefire proposal.

The United Nations says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since the cross-border exchanges began.

Netanyahu also made a lengthy appeal for Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia — but did it without mentioning what’s blocking any action: Saudi Arabia’s demand for an independent Palestinian state.

As Netanyahu took the stage Friday morning, there was enough ruckus in the audience that the presiding diplomat had to shout, “Order, please.”

The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of calling out Israel for its actions. “Mr. Netanyahu, stop this war now,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium. And Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking just before the Israeli leader, declared of Gaza: “This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine." He thumped the rostrum to audible applause.

And after the Israeli leader left the stage, the next speaker, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, started speaking but then paused for noises in the gallery, saying, “We can wait.” She did so for about 20 seconds before she continued.

It wasn't just Friday, either. On Thursday, the leader of the Palestinian Authority and a top Lebanese official both made their cases to fellow leaders — cases that included harsh words for Israel as well. Mahmoud Abbas' first words to the General Assembly were a sentence repeated three times in reference to Gaza: “We will not leave. We will not leave. We will not leave.” He accused Israel of destroying Gaza and making it unlivable. And Abdallah Bouhabib, Lebanon's foreign minister, decried Israel's “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”

“The crisis in Lebanon threatens the entire Middle East,” Bouhabib said. “We wish today to reiterate our call for a cease-fire on all fronts.”

See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations

Chairs for the Iranian delegation sit empty as Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Haredi Jews step on the Israeli flag to protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu in front of his hotel during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

People protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Police stand guard near Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's hotel during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu enters the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Delegates leave the General Assembly as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Over 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel has dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s military capacities and senior Hezbollah commanders.

Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since Oct. 7 would be repeated in Lebanon.

The International Organization for Migration estimated Thursday that more than 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war. Lebanon says a total of 1,540 people have been killed within its borders in that time.

The United States, France and other allies jointly called for a 21-day cease-fire. Lebanon's foreign minister said the country welcomed the cease-fire efforts, and decried Israel’s “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”

Israeli military vehicles were seen transporting tanks and armored vehicles toward the country’s northern border with Lebanon, and commanders have issued a call-up of reservists. Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved.

Here’s the latest:

Israel’s military said it carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut on Friday.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced the strike in a televised address.

Hagari said the headquarters “served as an epicenter of Hezbollah’s terror” and was “intentionally built under residential buildings" as part of the group's “strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields.”

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the airstrikes on the Haret Hreik district destroyed four buildings, turning them into a pile of rubble. The station said more than 15 missiles struck the area at the same moment.

The attack sent huge clouds of orange and black smoke billowing into the skies.

BEIRUT — Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s heavily-populated southern suburb as the blasts were heard throughout the Lebanese capital.

It was not immediately clear what the target was but thick black smoke was seen billowing from the area.

The massive explosion was so powerful it rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers north of Beirut. Ambulances were seen headed to the scene of the explosions, sirens wailing.

The strike came an hour after thousands of people attended the funeral of a top Hezbollah commander who was killed the day before.

In the city of Tyre, Lebanese civil defense workers toiled to pull out two bodies from under the rubble of a collapsed building after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike Friday.

They pulled the dead bodies of 35-year-old Hiba Ataya and her mother, 65-year-old Sabah Olayan.

“There she is, this is Sabah,” one man is heard saying as workers removed slabs of concrete and stones to reveal a body.

Ali Safieddine, a civil defense rescuer, told The Associated Press that his organization was receiving nonstop calls to go rescue people but they’re unable to reach all the areas due to airstrikes and bombed out roads.

He also said the team had to evacuate their center after receiving a call from Israel instructing them to vacate the location. “But we are continuing our work, we will continue our mission from wherever we are even if we’re in the street,” he said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council aid group is warning that the ongoing escalation between Israel and Hezbollah is reaching deeper into Lebanon and pushing the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon to alarming levels.

“Some Lebanese villages have almost been entirely deserted amid large-scale destruction. Families do not know which way to turn as Israel bombards scores of towns for the first time,” Maureen Philippon, the group's country director in Lebanon.

In a statement, she said tens of thousands of people are now seeking shelter in ill-equipped primarily schools where two or three families are packed together in the same classroom and there are no showers or bathing areas.

“People now being turned away from shelters as there is simply no space for them inside,” she said, while some displaced families are forced to seek refuge in bus shelters, in their cars, and outside hospitals, unsure where to go next, Philippon said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

The official said Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime in Gaza, but the goal in Lebanon is just to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel. That is “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military briefing guidelines.

The official said that no decision has been made on whether Israel will carry out a ground operation in southern Lebanon. But he stressed that the military is training for this possibility every day and is ready to implement it.

He added that Israel still sees Resolution 1701, the United Nations-brokered resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, as the best solution for lasting stability. But that the resolution must be enforced by an international force that is able to keep Hezbollah from setting up infrastructure close to the border with Israel. He said Israel’s punishing aerial bombardments this week, which killed more than 600 people in Lebanon, represent Israel’s decision to start enforcing the resolution on their own.

— By Melanie Lidman

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a tent sheltering displaced people within a hospital complex in central Gaza early Friday, killing one Palestinian man and injuring four others.

The strike on Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah left some tents and tarps torn apart with items such as bottles, mattresses, and a baby chair scattered on the dusty ground.

An Israeli military spokesperson told The Associated Press it conducted a “precise strike on Islamic Jihad terrorists who were operating inside command and control centers embedded within the Humanitarian Area in Deir al Balah."

The spokesperson said that steps were take to “mitigate the risk of harm to civilians.” The military did not comment on whether militants had been killed in the strike.

A video filmed by The Associated Press shows several children surrounding metal parts of the guided missile labeled “manufacturer United States Army” in the vicinity of the hospital where hundreds of displaced people are sheltering.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters that 25 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight in different parts of the country.

The latest numbers on Friday put the total death toll over the past five days to about 700, including scores of women and children, as Israel dramatically escalated strikes targeting the military capacity of Hezbollah.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed a missile attack that targeted Israel early Friday morning.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a pre-recorded statement released by the Houthis. He claimed the rebels launched both a missile and drone. The missile targeted Tel Aviv while the drone targeted another city, though Israel did not acknowledge the drone. No injuries were reported.

Israel’s military said earlier Friday it used an Arrow interceptor missile to down the Houthi missile, which saw some shrapnel fall.

It’s the second attack by the Houthis to target Tel Aviv in recent weeks. Friday’s launch comes amid Israel’s intensified airstrike campaign targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are backed by Iran.

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says “well over 30,000” people have crossed from Lebanon into neighboring Syria over the last 72 hours in the wake of fighting between the militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces in Lebanon.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the representative for refugee agency UNHCR in Syria, said roughly half of the people who have fled were children and adolescents.

He said about 80% were Syrians returning to their home country and the rest were Lebanese.

“Now these, of course, are people who are fleeing bombs and who are crossing into a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for 13 years now,” he told reporters in Geneva by video from the Lebanon-Syria border. Syria is facing “economic collapse,” he said.

“I think that this just illustrates the kind of extremely difficult choices both Syrians and Lebanese are having to make,” he said.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a border village has killed nine members of the same family, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday.

NNA said nine people were killed in the early Friday airstrike on the village of Chebaa that destroyed their three-story building.

Chebaa is in an area where the borders of Syria, Israel and Lebanon meet, and was struck several times in recent months.

On Friday, Israeli warplanes struck towns and villages in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to NNA.

JERUSALEM — Incoming fire from Lebanon into Israel continued Friday, with one man suffering wounds from shrapnel.

The Israeli military said four drones came across the border Friday, all of which were intercepted. Earlier Friday, the Israeli military said another 10 projectiles came into Israel from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others falling into open fields. It said it later targeted launchers in Lebanon behind the missile attacks.

Hezbollah claimed it had targeted the Israeli city of Tiberias with missiles.

The Israeli military said its warplanes had struck launchers in Haddatha, Lebanon, that it said fired the rockets at Tiberius in northern Israel. It said it was “currently continuing to strike Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.”

DAMASCUS — An overnight Israeli airstrike on a military site in the area of Kfar Yabous in Syria near the border with Lebanon killed five Syrian army soldiers and injured another, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Friday, citing an unidentified military official.

Israel's military did not immediately acknowledge the strike. Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria and facilities linked to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah but rarely acknowledges them.

Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled across the border from Lebanon into Syria since the beginning of the week under intense Israeli bombardment that Israel says is targeting Hezbollah militants and weapons. The week's strikes have killed an estimated 700 people, including at least 150 women and children.

GENEVA — A group of international trade unions on Friday filed a complaint against Israel at the United Nations labor organization in a bid to win compensation for 200,000 Palestinians who have gone unpaid or seen their benefits withheld after the Oct. 7 attacks.

The nine unions say the workers from both Gaza and the West Bank had been employed in Israel before the deadly attacks by armed militants, but were barred from entering to go to their jobs afterward. As a result, the workers and their families have faced millions of dollars’ worth of lost income, financial insecurity and no access to remedies through the courts, they said.

“These workers have experienced widespread wage theft due to the suspension of work permits and the unilateral termination of their contracts,” said a joint statement from the unions, whose members are active in industries as diverse as construction, education, journalism, agriculture, hospitality and transportation.

The filing at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, of which Israel is a member country, is based on language in its constitution that seeks to ensure that countries uphold international commitments they have already made.

Such economic woes that many Palestinians have faced come on top of the bloodshed, displacement and other troubles faced by Gaza and the West Bank as Israel continues its campaign against armed Palestinian militants.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government is bracing to evacuate thousands of Filipino workers in Lebanon in case the deadly conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group further escalates, Philippine officials said Friday.

More than 11,000 Filipinos live and work in Lebanon, often as house cleaners. Philippine officials have not yet ordered a mandatory evacuation of its citizens because it was not yet clear whether a full-scale war would erupt, including an Israeli ground attack.

Many Filipinos were adamant not to leave their jobs in Lebanon and return to uncertainties at home, but they have been told to be ready to evacuate any time, Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega told a news briefing in Manila.

They say “it’s better for them to die in war than to die of hunger,” De Vega said. But he added without elaborating that the Philippine government prepared a contingency plan for a massive evacuation if widespread ground fighting erupts across Lebanon.

Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Raymond Balatbat told reporters in Manila via video on Friday that many Filipinos there “will only decide to leave when the situation is so bad, when the war is at their doorsteps.”

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks and APC in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a closer view of a building in Chouaghir, Lebanon, on Sept. 26, 2024, after airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a closer view of a building in Chouaghir, Lebanon, on Sept. 3, 2024, before airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Palestinian supporters march near the United Nations headquarters at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Lebanon's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bouhabib addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Lebanese soldiers cordon off the area at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

In this combination of the satellite images released by Maxar Technologies shows a view of northern Lebanon, on Aug. 9, 2024, before airstrikes, top, and on Sept. 26, 2024, after airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Municipality workers remove power cables in front of damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Volunteers distribute clothes to displaced women at a school in Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A resident checks an apartment that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)