Israel's security cabinet is expected to decide Tuesday on a ceasefire in the war against Lebanese Hezbollah, an official said Monday, with the United States saying an agreement was “close.”
Also very involved in international mediation efforts, the French presidency affirmed that discussions on a ceasefire had “advanced significantly”, calling on Israel and Hezbollah to seize “this opportunity as quickly as possible”.
These announcements were made after an intensification in recent days of Israeli strikes against strongholds of the pro-Iranian movement in Lebanon, which left at least 31 dead on Monday according to the Ministry of Health.
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 unprecedented attack carried out by the Islamist movement against its territory on October 7, 2023. October 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.
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 and calling for the caution.
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.
– “Big mistake” –
It includes the establishment of an international committee to monitor its application, added Axios, speaking of American assurances to support Israeli military action in the event of hostile acts by Hezbollah.
The mediations are based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, and which stipulates that only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers can be deployed on the southern border of Lebanon.
However, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir (far right), estimated that 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.”
– Israeli strikes –
Israel says it wants to put Hezbollah and Hamas, allies of Iran, its enemy, out of harm's way. He vowed to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attack and wants to stop Hezbollah's rocket attacks, which have displaced some 60,000 northern residents for more than a year.
On Monday, the Israeli army claimed to have struck around 25 targets linked to Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, south and east Lebanon in one hour during the day. In the evening, new raids targeted the southern suburbs of the capital, according to the national agency Ani.
Hezbollah fired at least 30 projectiles at Israel, according to the army.
Fighting pitted Hezbollah against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon where the latter have been carrying out a ground offensive since September 30, Ani said.
According to the Ministry of Health, nearly 3,800 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.
– In the trash cans in Gaza –
On Israel's southern front, in the besieged Gaza Strip, devastated and threatened with famine according to the UN, the Israeli army continues its strikes, particularly in the north of the Palestinian territory.
“There are about 65,000 people in the besieged areas (in northern Gaza). We hear that they are searching through trash, rubble, trying to find old tin cans, any food they can find. “They could find it,” said a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, present in Gaza city.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left at least 44,235 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
Considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from this territory which it occupied for 38 years.
The October 7 attack led to the death of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or died in captivity.
That day, 251 people were kidnapped, 97 of whom remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.
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