Israel has approved a US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hizbullah, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s security cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday after it was presented by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his office said.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel would respond forcefully to any violation by Hizbullah, declaring Israel would retain “complete military freedom of action”.
US president Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step towards ending the region-wide unrest
that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year. It was brokered by the United States and France and was expected to take effect on Wednesday.
Mr Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed a series of accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region.
“We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Mr Netanyahu said there were three reasons to pursue a ceasefire: to focus on the threat from Iran; replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest; and to isolate Hamas, the militant group that triggered war in the region when it attacked Israel from Gaza last year.
“In full co-ordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hizbullah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.”
Mr Netanyahu said Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran and allied to 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, neutralised 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.”
Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed.
There was no indication that a truce in Lebanon would hasten a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in devastated Gaza, where Israel is battling Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Lebanon ceasefire agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon’s army to deploy in the region, officials say. Hizbullah 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 US could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Not everyone in Israel supports a ceasefire. Security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right-wing member of Mr Netanyahu’s government, said on social media platform X the agreement does not ensure the return of Israelis to their homes in the country’s north and that the Lebanese army did not have the ability to overcome Hizbullah.
“In order to leave Lebanon, we must have our own security belt,” Mr Ben-Gvir said.
Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show “zero tolerance” toward any infraction, Defence minister Israel Katz said earlier on Tuesday.
In the hours before the announcement, Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s densely-populated southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold. The Israeli military said one barrage of strikes had 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 Hizbullah targets across the city.
The Iran-backed Hizbullah has kept up rocket fire into Israel.
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 air strikes in recent days, including women, children and medics. Israel has dealt Hizbullah 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.
Over the past year, more than 3,750 people have been killed in Lebanon and over one million have been forced from their homes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.
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. – Reuters
