Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was ready to implement a ceasefire deal with Lebanon and would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah, declaring Israel would retain “complete military freedom of action.”
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to cabinet ministers with a vote expected later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
“We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory,” Netanyahu said.
“In full co-ordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.”
It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released.
Netanyahu said Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and allied with Hamas, was considerably weaker than it had been at the start of the conflict.
“We have set it back decades, eliminated … its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralized thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.
“We targeted strategic objectives across Lebanon, shaking Beirut to its core.”
Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon in truce deal
The Lebanon ceasefire agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon’s army to deploy in the region, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Israel demands effective enforcement by the United Nations of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon, and will show “zero tolerance” toward any infraction, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.
Israeli approval of the deal would pave the way for a ceasefire declaration by U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to four senior Lebanese sources who spoke to Reuters on Monday.
‘Dangerous, sensitive hours’
Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged Tuesday as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of airstrikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed.
A Hezbollah parliament member in Lebanon, Hassan Fadlallah, said the country faced “dangerous, sensitive hours” during the wait for a possible ceasefire announcement.
In the hours before the announcement, Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Israeli military said one barrage of strikes hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds, killing at least seven people and injuring 37, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Israel issued its biggest evacuation warning yet, telling civilians to leave 20 locations. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
The Israeli airstrikes and evacuation warnings suggested Netanyahu aims to inflict punishment on Hezbollah in the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. Hezbollah, meanwhile, had resumed its rocket fire into Israel, triggering air raid sirens across the country’s north.
The UN rights chief voiced concern about the escalation of bloodshed in Lebanon and his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.
Netanyahu added Tuesday that there were three reasons to pursue a ceasefire — to focus on Iran; replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest; and isolate Hamas, the militant group that triggered war in the region when it launched an attack on Israel from Gaza last year.
More than 3,760 killed in Israeli fire in Lebanon
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon in the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in support of the Palestinian militant group. That has set off more than a year of fighting and escalated into an all-out war in September, with massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion of the country’s south.
After months of escalating violence, a ceasefire deal in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah is reportedly ‘very close.’ Israel’s war cabinet is believed to be preparing to vote on the terms of the deal.
Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israeli military bases, cities and towns, including some 250 projectiles on Sunday.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah massive blows since going on the offensive against the group in September, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders, and pounding areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.
Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.
It’s not clear how the Lebanon ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, where more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
