These announcements were made as international actors redoubled their efforts towards a ceasefire.
On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas, its Palestinian ally, target of a destructive offensive in Gaza launched by Israel in response to an attack carried out by the Islamist movement against its territory on October 7, 2023 .
After a year of cross-border violence and after having weakened Hamas in Gaza, Israel concentrated its operations in Lebanon by launching an intense bombing campaign starting September 23 on Hezbollah strongholds.
Decision on an agreement Tuesday evening
The Israeli security cabinet “will decide on Tuesday evening” on a ceasefire agreement, an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity, without providing further details.
“We think we have reached the point where we are close” to an agreement, declared John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House, while emphasizing that nothing was yet certain.
According to the American news site Axios, the agreement is based on an American project providing for a 60-day truce during which Hezbollah and the Israeli army would withdraw from southern Lebanon, bordering northern Israel, to leave Lebanese army deployed there.
It includes the establishment of an international committee to monitor its application, according to Axios. The site reports American assurances to support Israeli military action in the event of hostile actions by Hezbollah.
UN Resolution 1701
The mediations are based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. 1701 stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers can be deployed on the southern border of Lebanon.
Subsequently, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, and the UN called for a ceasefire.
“Big mistake”
But for the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir (far right), who is not a member of the security cabinet, a ceasefire would be “a big mistake”.
Originally from northern Israel, Dorit Sison, 51, also fears a settlement like in 2006, which according to her allowed Hezbollah to “rearm itself”. Now “they have tunnels, rockets, all possible munitions.”
New “targets” attacked
Israel says it wants to put Hezbollah and Hamas, allies of Iran, its enemy, out of harm’s way. This country vowed to “destroy” Hamas after the October 7 attack and wants to stop Hezbollah’s rocket attacks, which have displaced some 60,000 inhabitants of the north for more than a year.
On Monday, the Israeli army claimed to have attacked around 25 Hezbollah-linked targets in the southern suburbs, south and east of Lebanon in an hour. At least 12 people were killed in raids in the southern Tire region, according to the Health Ministry.
Hezbollah fired at least 30 projectiles at Israel, the army said the day after 50 rocket and drone strikes claimed by the Lebanese movement against Israeli regions including Tel Aviv (center), a record since September.
Nearly 3,800 dead in Lebanon
According to the official Lebanese news agency ANI, fighting took place between Hezbollah and Israeli troops who have been carrying out a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since September 30.
According to the Ministry of Health, at least 3,768 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, most since last September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians were killed in 13 months.
Gaza still under bombs
On Israel’s southern front, in the besieged Gaza Strip, devastated and threatened with famine according to the UN, the Israeli army continues its bombings, particularly in the north of the Palestinian territory.
The large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza has left at least 44,235 dead, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
