Tel Aviv: Amid the ongoing exchange of airstrikes between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF0 will continue their offensive against the militant organisation. Notably, Netanyahu's statement came in response to a 21-day ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah by the United States and its allies."It is an American-French proposal, which the prime minister has not even responded to," said a statement from Netanyahu's office as reported by news agency AFP. The statement further added that Netanyahu further ordered Israeli forces to continue the fight "with full force".After Israel's airstrikes on Hezbollah killed over 500 people and displaced thousands of people in Lebanon earlier this week, the US, European Union and several Arab states issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire. US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron and other ally partners, in a joint statement termed the ongoing Lebanon situation "intolerable". The statement further read that the present situation is in nobody's interest, including the people of Israel and Lebanon. "We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement," it stated as reported by AFP.The statement was issued jointly as the US and its allies met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The ceasefire call was issued on Wednesday, hours after Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi asked soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive against the Lebanese militant group.Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and warned, "Hell is breaking loose."Israeli strikes Monday on Lebanon killed more than 500 people, including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of its widening air campaign against Hezbollah.Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.