Death Toll Continues to Rise, Interim PM Says Lebanon Urgently Needs Ceasefire

The Israeli military in the northern border region with Lebanon. (Source: IDF)

JAKARTA - Lebanon's interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday his country needs a ceasefire in the conflict between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel.

The cross-border conflict that has been ongoing since the conflict in Gaza, Palestine between Hamas and Israel broke out last year, has escalated since last October, causing more injuries and deaths, while some 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced.

"Stop the fighting. We don't need more blood. We don't need more destruction," Prime Minister Mikati said in an online briefing hosted by the American Task Force for Lebanon, a US-based non-profit organization, reported by Reuters on October 3.

"There is an urgent need for a ceasefire," he continued.

Prime Minister Mikati said a diplomatic end to the escalating war would be a "victory for" Israel and Lebanon and that "all parties" would respect the agreement.

The interim prime minister said he hoped to deploy 10,000 Lebanese troops in the south if a ceasefire is agreed.

Separately, Lebanon's Disaster Management Unit announced that the number of civilians killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 8 has jumped to 1,873 and 9,134 injured, as quoted by WAFA.

"The number of refugees from areas affected by the Israeli aggression has exceeded one million, including 155,600 registered in shelters," he added.

Since September 23, Israel has launched the "most brutal and extensive" attacks on Lebanon, which have so far killed 1,073 people, including children and women, and injured 2,955 others, according to data from the Lebanese authorities.