Netanyahu insists ceasefire talks ongoing as Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange strikes

Israel will continue to discuss ceasefire proposals for Lebanon in the days ahead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday, as Washington warned further escalation would only make it harder for civilians on both sides to return home.

Israel's foreign minister on Thursday rejected global calls for a truce with Hezbollah and pressed ahead with airstrikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of a regional war.

An Israeli strike on Friday killed nine members of a family, including four children, in the Lebanese border town of Shebaa, mayor Mohammad Saab said. Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Monday, the health ministry says.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets into Israel at Kiryat Ata near the city of Haifa some 30 km from the border and the city of Tiberias, declaring the attacks a response to Israeli strikes.

Though Israeli air defenses have shot down many of Hezbollah's rockets, the group's attacks have shut down normal life across much of northern Israel as more areas fall into its crosshairs.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted four unmanned aircraft that crossed from Lebanese territory into the maritime space off the coast of Rosh Hanikra at the Lebanese border.

The conflict between Israeli forces and heavily-armed Hezbollah is their worst in more than 18 years and part of the regional spillover of the Gaza war.

The U.S., France and several other allies proposed an immediate 21-day truce on Wednesday and said negotiations continued, including on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York.

Netanyahu said Israeli teams had meetings to discuss the U.S. ceasefire proposals on Thursday and would continue discussions in the days ahead, adding he appreciated the U.S. efforts.

"Our teams met to discuss the U.S. initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days," he said.

On Thursday, after Netanyahu left for New York where he is attending the UN General Assembly, his office issued a statement saying the prime minister had ordered Israeli troops to continue fighting with full force in Lebanon.

His statement made no reference to the comments of Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who rejected ceasefire proposals, or other Israeli politicians who have echoed that position, saying only that there had been "a lot of misreporting around the U.S.-led ceasefire initiative."

Israel says its aims is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of its citizens who have been forced to evacuate areas near the Lebanese border over the last year of hostilities.

In Lebanon, more than 90,000 people have been reported as newly displaced this week, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM), adding to more than 111,000 already uprooted by the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel on Thursday further escalation to the conflict will only make it harder for civilians to return home on both sides of the border. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Lebanese counterpart at the UN and discussed the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution in the conflict with Israel.

Starmer spoke with Lebanon's Najib Mikati at the UN General Assembly. "They discussed the escalating conflict in Lebanon and agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution," the statement said.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday