EU’s Borrell: ‘Let’s pressure Israel to approve ceasefire today’

The EU’s foreign policy chief has urged for global pressure on Israel to sign off on a ceasefire with Hezbollah today to stop the bloodshed in Lebanon. There is no reason for Israel to refuse the current deal under consideration, which gives it all the needed security guarantees, according to Borrell.

“Every night, Beirut is under severe bombing,” Borrell said at a press briefing. “Let’s put pressure on Israel in order to approve the proposal today … Let’s start thinking on peace.”

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.

‘Mistakes of evaluation’ of Hezbollah’s strength by Israel’s leaders

Military analyst Elijah Magnier says despite talk of a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire it will be “the most difficult night ever since 2006” for civilians in both Lebanon and Israel.

When the cessation of hostilities was announced in 2006, hundreds of strikes from both sides occurred for the next two days with “strategic, symbolic, and psychological implications”, he said.

In the current war, Israel’s leadership underestimated Hezbollah’s staying power with hundreds of missiles and drones launched into the country over the past few weeks, said Magnier.

“There were mistakes of evaluation by Israeli thinking that they had defeated Hezbollah and were just about to destroy it completely. And this is when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised his objective to change the whole Middle East,” he said.

After 52 days of heavy bombardment and a ground invasion of Lebanon, Israel has not achieved even half of what it did during the war in 2006, Magnier told Al Jazeera. After a major Hezbollah rocket barrage at the weekend, “this is when the Israelis realised the objective cannot be met and a cessation of hostilities is much better and they both can claim victory.”

Netanyahu addresses Israelis on Lebanon ceasefire agreement

Netanyahu is speaking on Israeli television following an hours-long meeting with his security cabinet that discussed the ceasefire deal. The agreement would end Hezbollah’s armed presence along the border south of the Litani River and require Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army would then need to deploy in the region – also a Hezbollah stronghold – within 60 days, officials said.

Netanyahu pledges to return families in northern Israel to their homes

In his remarks, he said Hezbollah is no longer the same group “that launched a war against us”, saying Israeli forces set them back decades. He said Israeli forces killed most of the group’s leadership and “destroyed their infrastructure”.

Netanyahu also pledged to return families in northern Israel to their homes – a main war objective. “We were able to achieve many of our goals during this war,” he said.

Netanyahu says ceasefire deal will be presented to cabinet for approval

Netanyahu says he will bring the full cabinet an outline of the ceasefire deal with Lebanon’s Hezbollah for approval. An agreement means Israel can focus on the “Iranian threat”, adding, “we are changing the face of the region.”

Netanyahu pledged Israel “will respond” if Hezbollah violates the truce.

Lebanon PM demands ‘immediate’ implementation of ceasefire

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says the international community must “act swiftly” to halt Israeli aggression “and implement an immediate ceasefire”.

His comments came after Netanyahu said in an address that Israel’s security cabinet would agree “this evening” on a truce in its war against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Ceasefire with Hezbollah seems weak and ‘very difficult to maintain’

Alon Pinkas, a former ambassador and consul-general from Israel, says the ceasefire announcement by Netanyahu seems “very fragile” because it looks “very difficult to maintain and sustain in the long run”.

Pinkas told Al Jazeera the clauses in the agreement are “unenforceable”.

“It assumes the Lebanese army will supervise the manufacturing and the sales and transfer of weapons in Lebanon – and that’s an impossibility,” he said. “We all know that the Lebanese army has always shunned any kind of confrontation with Hezbollah.”

According to Pinkas, opposition from the Israeli centre-left and the Israeli right is mounting. While some say it’s Israel’s assault on Gaza that should have ended with the return of the captives, others view the deal with Lebanon as a surrender.

More from PM Netanyahu’s TV address on Hezbollah ceasefire

The deal potentially clears the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year. It’s expected to take effect on Wednesday.

“We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Israeli people.

“In full coordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.”

He said Hezbollah – which is backed by Iran and allied to Hamas – is considerably weaker than it was at the start of the conflict in October 2023.

“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.”

Netanyahu dances around stated war goals after ceasefire announcement

Netanyahu set the bar very high at the beginning of the war. He was talking about dismantling, about completely annihilating Hezbollah, that it would cease to exist and only then would conditions be ripe for a halt in fighting.

Now, he has walked that back.

When you look at the agreement that was reached, you have a repeat of the UN Security Council resolution. In no article does it say Israel has the right to attack. It is basically saying that Israel will stop attacking Lebanon and Hezbollah and other armed groups would also do the same.

Netanyahu delivered what he said he wouldn’t be happy with at the beginning of this war. This war has been very costly in Israel – it has been felt. People feel traumatised and they do feel let down.

This Israeli government is intact, the support for the agreement was almost unanimous.

Despite trying to project confidence, Netanyahu came off as ‘insecure’

This was a defensive statement by Israel’s leader. This was an insecure prime minister trying to project an image of bombastic security. I’m not sure he succeeded. I’m not sure the Israeli public for whom this statement was directed are convinced.

He tried to project an image of confidence while at the same time not helping to sound insecure about what he’s doing, knowing all too well that he promised a lot at the beginning – the total destruction of Hezbollah and transforming the Middle East.

But he ended up agreeing to a ceasefire while Hezbollah remains intact and continues to launch rockets against Israel.

‘We are in the midst of a temporary, fragile truce’

Here we have a prime minister that says Israel will be able to resume the war at will and at the site of any movement by Hezbollah that Israel thinks poses a danger to it. So we are in the midst of a very temporary, fragile truce that Netanyahu was forced into.

We cannot overestimate the fragility of the ceasefire, judging from some of the reports that Israel will maintain freedom of action in Lebanon and Israel insists that Hezbollah dismantles and leaves southern Lebanon before any Israeli soldier deploys out of Lebanon.

This is going to be a rocky road ahead in the next days and weeks.

Israel’s far-right Security Minister Ben-Gvir unhappy with truce

Not everyone in Israel supports a ceasefire, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right-wing member of Netanyahu’s government.

The agreement does not ensure the return of Israelis to their homes in the country’s north and the Lebanese army does not have the ability to overcome Hezbollah, he said on X.

“In order to leave Lebanon, we must have our own security belt,” Ben-Gvir said.

Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show “zero tolerance” towards any infraction, Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier.

Death toll in Lebanon rises – 3,823 killed

At least 3,823 people have been killed and 15,859 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 7, 2023, the country’s Health Ministry says.

In the latest 24-hour reporting period, 55 people were killed and 160 injured, the ministry added.

Israel again strikes Beirut’s central commercial district

Israeli forces have struck a crowded neighbourhood in central Beirut as part of its biggest attacks on the Lebanese capital since the war escalated in mid-September.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment building in Hamra, a bustling commercial area in Beirut, was targeted a short while ago. It also said “a hostile drone hit al-Qard al-Hassan in Zuqaq al-Blat,” referring to a Lebanese association linked to Hezbollah.

Israel has intensified its attacks in Beirut in recent days, targeting the capital’s southern suburbs as well as central areas that were not hit before, causing widespread panic among fleeing residents.

The attacks come as Netanyahu announced a ceasefire that is set to be approved by the Israeli cabinet.

Israel cabinet approves ceasefire with Hezbollah

Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s security cabinet has approved a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 vote. The late-night vote came shortly before US President Joe Biden was expected to announce details of the deal in Washington.

Earlier, Netanyahu had defended the ceasefire, saying Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah and could now focus its efforts on Hamas fighters in Gaza and his top security concern, Iran.

Netanyahu promised to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal.

Biden hails Lebanon ceasefire as ‘good news’

US President Joe Biden called a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah “good news” after Israel’s cabinet approved the deal.

He said it would take effect at 4am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Biden also said Israel has “destroyed” Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon, adding the deal is meant to bring about a “permanent cessation of hostilities”.

Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army will “take control of their own territory”, he said.

Biden added that Israel retains its right to “self-defence” if the deal is broken.

Hezbollah announces attacks on Israeli soldiers in the north

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli troops in northern Israel late on Tuesday after the news of a ceasefire emerged.

In separate statements, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked “a gathering of Israeli enemy forces” across the border in Shtula and Kiryat Shmona, each with “a salvo of rockets”.

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that the central bus station in Kiryat Shmona is on fire after being hit by a Hezbollah rocket.

The truce is expected to take hold at 4am local time (02:00 GMT)