Netanyahu vows ‘no ceasefire’ in Lebanon after Hezbollah threats

Political analyst Stephen Zunes said the letter seemed like a credible threat, but noted that the US should have imposed such sanctions “many months ago, as far back as February”.
This was when the US Agency for International Development – an independent agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance – determined that Israel was impeding aid and violating the Foreign Assistance Act. The Act bars US military support to any country that restricts the delivery of US-provided humanitarian assistance.
“It was required under US law to suspend some military aid, but Biden overruled this and they went ahead with the unconditional aid anyway. And things have been getting worse and worse,” said Zunes, professor of politics and director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco.
“The Biden administration has imposed a number of red lines on Israel, only to have them violated with apparent impunity.”
Zunes told CNA’s Asia First programme that with the Nov 5 presidential election coming up, the Biden administration has been getting pressure from its own base to address these issues.
“But on the other hand, it’s no secret that Netanyahu would prefer for Trump to win. So even as the anxiousness in Washington to have some progress in this area grows, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Israelis will respond accordingly.”
Zunes added insiders have revealed that if elected to the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris would be willing to “put a lot more pressure” on Israel than Biden.
“There’s been a lot of pressure from the international community, from human rights groups and from ordinary Americans to to finally get the administration to live up to the law and to indeed threaten to withhold (military) aid,” Zunes added.
Despite the need for food, medical supplies and shelter in hunger-ravaged Gaza, a spokesman for the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday that aid was facing the tightest restrictions since the start of Israel’s offensive in October last year.
“We see now what is probably the worst restrictions we’ve seen on humanitarian aid, ever,” spokesman James Elder said in Geneva, adding that there were “several days in the last week (where) no commercial trucks whatsoever were allowed to come in”.
For over a week, Israeli forces have engaged in a sweeping air and ground assault targeting northern Gaza and the area around Jabalia amid claims that Hamas militants were regrouping there.
“The whole area has been reduced to ashes,” said Rana Abdel Majid, 38, from the Al-Faluja area of northern Gaza.
Majid said entire blocks had been levelled by “the indiscriminate, merciless bombing”.
Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Sep 23 and then launched a ground offensive a week later intended to push the group back from its northern border.
Hezbollah has been firing thousands of projectiles into Israel over the last year in support of Hamas, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.  
At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel escalated its bombing last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.
The war in Lebanon, which has suffered years of economic crisis, has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.