“What we do is to put all diplomatic pressure to a ceasefire, but nobody seems to be able to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” Borrell told a small group of journalists as he attended the UN General Assembly.

Borrell backed an initiative by France and the US for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, which Israel has brushed aside as it steps up strikes on Hezbollah targets, in a days-old campaign that has killed hundreds.

Borrell said Netanyahu has made clear that the Israelis “don’t stop until Hezbollah is destroyed,” much as in its nearly year-old campaign in Gaza against fellow Iranian-backed Islamist group Hamas.

“If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war,” Borrell said in English.

The outgoing EU foreign affairs chief again called for diversifying diplomacy from the US, which has tried for months unsuccessfully to seal a truce in Gaza that would include the release of hostages.

“We cannot rely just on the US. The US tried several times; they didn’t succeed,” he said.

“I don’t see them ready to start again a negotiation process that could lead to another Camp David,” he said, referring to the 2000 talks at the US presidential retreat in which Bill Clinton unsuccessfully sought to broker a landmark deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu in a defiant speech to the United Nations on Friday vowed to achieve Israel’s objectives against Hezbollah, which has sporadically attacked Israel with rockets since Hamas carried out its massive Oct 7 attack on Israel, which has responded with a relentless military campaign.