Diplomats thought both Israel and Hezbollah supported a call for a temporary cease-fire. Then Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader, Mr. Nasrallah. Officials from the United Nations, France and the United States had drafted a statement calling for a three-week cease-fire aimed at preventing a broader conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, and shared it with the two sides to consider. However, before diplomats could draw up a detailed cease-fire proposal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declared at the United Nations that Israel must “defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon.” Soon after, huge bombs fell in Beirut, killing Mr. Nasrallah and extinguishing any immediate prospect of a cease-fire. Now the expanded war in Lebanon that officials had been working to prevent is threatening to ignite a larger regional conflict. The killing of Mr. Nasrallah was the second time in 10 weeks that Israel had quashed progress toward a cease-fire by striking a militia leader. 

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