The Israeli occupation army announced that it launched new air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday evening.

This comes after the Israeli occupation rejected a 21-day truce proposal with Hezbollah, put forward by countries, most notably the United States.

The occupation army said in a statement that it is "currently striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon."

In a related context, the White House confirmed that the international call for a ceasefire in Lebanon was coordinated with the Israeli occupation, while Tel Aviv later rejected the ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday that "the statement was already coordinated with the Israeli side."

She pointed out that the talks are still ongoing during the UN General Assembly meetings.

At the same time, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported, citing sources, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had expressed his approval of the American truce proposal, but backed down after criticism from within his government.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the possibility of holding talks on stopping the attack against Hezbollah as part of efforts to generate political legitimacy for the continuation of the military operation in Lebanon, before he backed down from it.

The issue was raised during yesterday's cabinet session, but Netanyahu backed down from it later in the day, after intense pressure from his coalition partners.

During his trip to New York, a member of Netanyahu’s entourage conveyed a threat to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, hinting at the possibility of his assassination. “If Hezbollah doesn’t get the message through the killing of its top officials, it will get it another way,” the member said.