From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 12, 2024
US envoy Hochstein: Israeli ‘campaign of bombing in Beirut… needs to stop’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleUS special envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein tells local media that the United States is working “non-stop” toward a ceasefire in the country.
“We want the whole conflict to end,” he tells Lebanese television channel LBC from Washington. “We are working on this non-stop.”
Reviewing the latest developments, Hochstein says reports that Israel hit UN peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon on Friday are “unacceptable.”
He sends his condolences to the families of two soldiers who Lebanon’s army says were killed in an Israeli strike in the south of the country, also on Friday.
The US envoy also says Israeli strikes on the central Beirut districts of Basta and Nweiri late Thursday that killed 22 people were “totally unacceptable.”
Israel reportedly targeted senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa in one of those strikes.
“We have a continued campaign of bombing in Beirut. It needs to stop,” he says.
“We’re trying to bring this bombing to a close. We don’t like this campaign of bombings in densely populated Beirut,” Hochstein says.
Earlier on Friday, caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the United Nations to pass a resolution calling for an “immediate” ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Times of Israel Community.