File photo- António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, speaks during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. AP
Netanyahu had already pushed his departure from Tuesday to Wednesday, but for now, an Israeli official told CNN he plans to leave Friday.
According to CNN, Netanyahu is set to speak at the UN General Assembly later in the week, which is expected to lead to many walkouts from the assembly hall.
Meanwhile, Lebanon caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati noted that in light of recent developments, he decided to cancel his trip to New York, which aimed to intensify "Lebanese diplomatic efforts during the United Nations General Assembly to stop Israel's ongoing aggression against Lebanon and the massacres being committed."
"After consultations and coordination with the foreign minister, we have agreed on urgent diplomatic actions to take at this stage," Mikati said in a statement.
He reaffirmed that "there is no priority at the moment higher than stopping the massacres committed by Israel and the various forms of warfare it is waging."
The Lebanese PM also called on the international community "to take a clear stance on these horrific massacres" and urged "the enactment of international laws to separate civilian technological means from military and war objectives."
World leaders are set to descend on the United Nations this week to talk about a lengthy list of global challenges.
The two-day summit starts Sunday, two days before the high-level meeting of world leaders begins at the sprawling UN compound in New York City.
'Imminent catastrophe'
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon warned Sunday of an "imminent catastrophe" in the Middle East amid spiking violence between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying a military solution was not the answer.
"With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer," special coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement on X.
'War footing'
Hospitals in northern Israel have been instructed to transfer their operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire, the Israeli health ministry said after Lebanon's Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, in retaliation to pager blasts.
Rambam Hospital in the city of Haifa will transfer patients to its underground, secure facility, the ministry said.
In Lebanon, the death toll from an Israeli airstrike that targeted Hezbollah commanders in Beirut's southern suburbs this week has risen to 45, Lebanon's Ministry of Health said Sunday.
"The number of dead has risen to 45 people," a ministry statement said, updating an earlier toll of 37 from the Friday attack.
It said "work continues to remove the rubble for the third day in a row" and that DNA sampling would be used to determine the identities of some of the bodies.
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