BEIRUT: Israel flatly rejected on Thursday a push led by key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, vowing to keep fighting Hizbollah fighters "until victory."

Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hizbollah strongholds around Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

"There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the Hizbollah organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement earlier saying he had "not even responded" to the truce proposal, and that he had ordered the military "to continue the fighting with full force."

The United States, France and other allies called for a 21-day halt, after President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The situation in Lebanon has become "intolerable" and "is in nobody's interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon," their joint statement read.

Despite these diplomatic efforts, violence raged on the ground.

The Israeli military said it struck about 75 targets in the eastern Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon, Hizbollah bastions that have seen a huge exodus people fleeing their homes in recent days.

A strike on the town of Yunin near Baalbek killed at least 20 people, Lebanon's health ministry said, with the official National News Agency describing the bombing of the area as "the most violent" of recent days.

"It was indescribable, it was one of the worst nights we've lived through. You think there's just a second between life and death," said Fadia Rafic Yaghi, 70, who owns a shop in Baalbek.

For the fourth time this week, the Israeli military conducted a strike on Hizbollah's south Beirut stronghold, with a source close to the group saying it had targeted the head of its drone unit.

The Israeli military also said around 45 rockets had been fired from Lebanon, adding that some had been intercepted while others had landed in unpopulated areas.

Hizbollah said that it had again targeted defence industry complexes near the city of Haifa in northern Israel, saying it was "defending Lebanon and its people."

Israel earlier this month said it was shifting its focus from Gaza, where it has been fighting a war with Hamas since the October 7 attack, to securing its border with Lebanon.

Hamas ally Hizbollah has been fighting Israeli troops across the Lebanon border since October, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.

Netanyahu, who is due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday, has said that ensuring the safe return of Israelis to their homes was a priority.

The Israeli military said Hizbollah positions along the border with Syria were among its latest targets.

Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hizbollah, as two reserve brigades were called up "for operational missions in the northern arena."

Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday – by far the deadliest day of violence in Lebanon not just in the latest escalation, but since the 1975-1990 civil war.

For many on both sides of the border, the violence has sparked bitter memories of the 2006 war between Hizbollah and Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

According to the UN, Israel's bombardment of Lebanon had by Wednesday forced 90,000 people to flee their homes in traditional Hizbollah strongholds to safer areas elsewhere in the tiny Mediterranean country.

On Thursday, two Syrian security sources told AFP more than 22,000 people had crossed the Lebanese border into Syria this week, most of them Syrians.

A 19-year-old woman who fled from south Lebanon to Beirut said a temporary halt in the violence would not be enough.

"What we want is to be able to go back home for good, with guarantees," Rayan Mustafa told AFP.

In Israel, too, many were weary of the violence.

"We've been needing a ceasefire for a while now. This war has been going on for too long," said Fida Khoury, a 28-year-old software engineer from the city of Haifa.

Others, like 67-year-old David Lander, believe war is the only way.

"I'm against a temporary ceasefire," the retired Haifa resident said. "I want the citizens of the north to be able to go back to their homes."

Diplomats have said efforts to end the war in Gaza were key to halting the fighting in Lebanon.

But Qatar, a key broker in the stalled talks to reach a Gaza ceasefire, said it was unaware of a "direct link" between the two.

Civil defence workers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages seized by fighters, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,534 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

 -AFP