Israel’s cabinet will meet on Tuesday to vote on a proposed ceasefire deal with Lebanon, an official said.
Israel’s cabinet will meet Tuesday to vote on a proposed ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, a senior Israeli official said Monday, while a Lebanese official said Beirut had been told by Washington that a deal could be announced “within hours.”
Signs of a diplomatic breakthrough have been accompanied by heavy Israeli airstrikes in southern Beirut controlled by Hezbollah, as Israel presses ahead with an offensive that began in September after a nearly year-long cross-border war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on reports that Israel and Lebanon have agreed on the text of the agreement. But a senior Israeli official told Reuters that Tuesday’s cabinet meeting aimed to approve the document.
Israeli officials had previously said a ceasefire was nearing even though some issues remained, while two Lebanese officials expressed high hopes as Israel continued to attack Lebanon and Hezbollah continued to fire rockets.
Israel’s ambassador to Washington said a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists could be reached “within days.”
Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israel Army Radio on Monday that there are still “points to finalize” and that any deal requires agreement from the government. But he said “we are close to an agreement” and “it could happen in a few days.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said Israel would end up being able to attack southern Lebanon under any deal. Lebanon has previously objected to words that would give Israel such a right.
The US is pushing for an agreement to end a year of conflict
‘No major obstacles’ remain
In Beirut, Elias Bou Saab, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, told Reuters that “there are no serious obstacles” left to start implementing the proposed US ceasefire against Israel, “unless Netanyahu changes his mind.”
He said the proposal would involve the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and the deployment of regular Lebanese troops to the border region, which is a stronghold of Hezbollah, within 60 days.
The sticking point over who will monitor the implementation of the ceasefire has been resolved 24 hours ago with an agreement to establish a committee of five countries, including France led by the United States, he said.
The Western diplomat said another stumbling block was the sequence of Israeli withdrawals, the deployment of Lebanese troops and the return of Lebanese people who were in their homes in southern Lebanon.
Israeli strikes in Beirut continue
The violence has intensified in line with the political tension: over the weekend, Israel launched heavy airstrikes, one of which killed at least 29 people in central Beirut, and Hezbollah launched one of its largest rockets on Sunday, firing 250 missiles.
In Beirut, Israeli airstrikes hit southern areas controlled by Hezbollah on Monday, sending debris flying over the Lebanese capital.
Efforts to reach an agreement appeared to be moving forward last week when American mediator Amos Hochstein announced significant progress in the talks in Beirut, and then held meetings in Israel.
Israel has attacked Hezbollah heavily, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior commanders, and causing extensive damage to areas of Lebanon where the group is in control.
Israel says it had no choice but to launch its ground and air campaign, to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to their homes that were forced to leave after Hezbollah began firing across the day after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
About 3,800 Lebanese were killed in the Israeli attack
The Ministry of Health in Lebanon says that the Israeli attack has killed 3,768 people in Lebanon and forced more than a million people to leave their homes. Its casualty figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hezbollah strikes killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers were killed in northern Israel and the Golan Heights, and in fighting in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.
The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden has emphasized negotiations to end the conflict in Lebanon, as all talks to end a similar war in Gaza have stalled.
Diplomacy in Lebanon focuses on restoring the ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed at least 12 people, including eight rescuers, and injured 27 others after it struck a security center in Baalbek, northeast of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
It requires Hezbollah to pull its forces back 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, behind the Litani River, and the Lebanese army to enter the border region.
Israel and Hezbollah have both accused each other of failing to use it in the past; Israel says the new ceasefire must allow for the means to attack any remaining Hezbollah fighters or weapons south of the river.
Any deal would expose rifts in Netanyahu’s right-leaning government. The right-wing National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said Israel must continue the war until it is “totally victorious.” Speaking to Netanyahu on X, he said “it’s not too late to stop this deal!”
But Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel must reach an agreement in Lebanon. “If we say ‘no’ to Hezbollah south of Litani, we mean it,” he told reporters.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said last week that the group reviewed and gave a response to the US ceasefire proposal, and any peace is in Israel’s hands.
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