Netanyahu tells Macron he opposes 'unilateral ceasefire' in Lebanon

Lebanese civil defence members clear the rubble from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on October 12, 2024. [AFP]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said he was opposed to agreeing to a "unilateral ceasefire" in Lebanon during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement released by his office.

"The prime minister said in the conversation that he is opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was," Netanyahu said, according to a statement.

Netanyahu and the Israeli military have repeatedly insisted that there must be a buffer zone along Israel's northern border with Lebanon where there is no presence of Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified (to Macron) that Israel would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this and which does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping," the statement from his office said.

The remarks came as French President Emmanuel Macron upped pressure on Israel to abide by UN decisions, telling his cabinet that "Mr Netanyahu must not forget that a decision of the UN created his country", a participant in the meeting told AFP.

The statement refers to the resolution adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly on a plan to partition the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states.

Netanyahu on Tuesday later hit back at Macron's comments, saying the country's founding was achieved by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, not a UN ruling.

"A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the state of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the war of independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors -- including from the Vichy regime in France," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Tensions have increased between Netanyahu and Macron with the French leader last week insisting that stopping the export of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon was the only way to stop the conflicts.

France has also repeatedly denounced Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which includes a French contingent.

"Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN," Macron added, as Israel wages a ground offensive against the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where the UN peacekeepers are deployed.

His comments from the closed-door meeting at the Elysee Palace were quoted by a participant who spoke to AFP and asked not to be named.