Ceasefire with Hezbollah unlikely to push Israelis to return to north
Even if Israel works out a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israelis displaced from the north of the country are unlikely to feel safe enough to go home, according to Tel Aviv-based political commentator Ori Goldberg.
Those Israelis who have left northern Israel – numbering about 80,000 – “have become absolutely convinced that the only way they can go home is if Hezbollah is destroyed” because that is the message the state has “instilled in them”, Goldberg told Al Jazeera.
“This deal, if it materialises, will not be ultimate towards any side. So while the Israeli state might be able to live with it … the 80,000 residents of the Israeli north will be left fighting a holding action at best, absolutely convinced that their lives are not secure,” said Goldberg.
The deal “is good for Netanyahu, not at all good for Israelis”, he added.
Lebanese foreign minister says 5,000 soldiers at the ready
Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says he hoped a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah would be agreed later tonight.
He said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 soldiers deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw and that the US could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Hezbollah to remain active after ceasefire: Report
Senior Hezbollah official and Member of Parliament Hassan Fadlallah says the group will remain active after its war with Israel ends, including by helping displaced Lebanese return to their villages and rebuilding areas destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Fadlallah told Reuters that Lebanon was facing “dangerous, sensitive hours” before the anticipated announcement of a ceasefire, given the Israeli air force’s intensified strikes on Tuesday afternoon on Beirut and its southern suburbs.
Hezbollah lawmaker says Israel ‘seeks revenge’ with intense strikes before truce
Amin Sherri says Israel wants to punish the Lebanese people, particularly the group’s supporters, ahead of a possible ceasefire.
“The Israeli enemy … seeks revenge on supporters of the resistance and on all Lebanese,” Sherri told reporters at the site of a deadly Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital during intense attacks on south Beirut.
