Diplomatic framework’

Hochstein’s visit came Hezbollah unilaterally suspended its attacks for two days during the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, which began on Sunday. But that pause ended on Tuesday with Hezbollah saying that it targeted an Israeli tank with a suicide drone.

The Lebanese group also released a nine-minute video of what it said was footage its surveillance drones brought back from Israel. The video showed and identified military facilities in the north of the country as well as key infrastructure in Haifa – Israel’s third largest city – including a power plant.

Hezbollah has said it will not halt its attacks into northern Israel unless there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that “one way or another, we will restore security to the north,” and his hardline nationalist coalition partners have called for an aggressive military response.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it killed a “central operative” in Hezbollah’s rocket division in a drone strike.

The US State Department said late on Monday that it is advancing a proposal to avert a large-scale conflict.

“There is a diplomatic framework that we believe is reachable that would resolve this conflict without a full-on war,” a spokesperson said.

In Beirut, Hochstein called for the adoption of the Gaza ceasefire proposal being pushed by Biden’s administration in the hope that it would quickly bring peace across the “Blue Line”, referring to the disputed Israel-Lebanon border.

“A ceasefire in Gaza and, or, an alternative diplomatic solution could also bring the conflict across the Blue Line to an end” and allow the return of displaced civilians to southern Lebanon and northern Israel, he said.

Hezbollah recently said that it has carried out more than 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8. The Lebanese group started its attacks with the outbreak of the war in Gaza in what it says is an effort to support Palestinians.

The Israel-Lebanon border violence has killed at least 473 people on the Lebanese side, most of them fighters but also including 92 civilians, according to an AFP tally.