Israel nears cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel edged closer Tuesday to ending more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he would urge his cabinet ministers to approve a cease-fire.

In a televised speech, Netanyahu said he favored a truce so Israel could focus its attention on the broader threat Iran poses to the Jewish state, refresh its forces and supply of munitions and isolate Hamas in its ongoing fight against Israel in Gaza.

Netanyahu vowed that if Hezbollah renews its attacks on Israel or rearms itself, Israel would immediately resume its bombardment of militant sites in Lebanon.

“The length of the cease-fire will depend on what happens in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “With the full understanding of the United States, we are preserving full military freedom of action — if Hezbollah breaks the agreement and seeks to arm itself, we will attack.”

Netanyahu’s move toward a halt in nearly 14 months of fighting with Hezbollah came after hours of Israeli bombardment of militant targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The Israeli attacks targeted 20 buildings that the military said were Hezbollah strongholds, warning noncombatant residents living there to flee to safety and maintain a distance of at least 500 meters. It was the largest number of buildings targeted in a single day where the Israel Defense Forces warned residents about an impending attack.

The airstrikes sent billowing clouds of dark smoke into the sky over the Lebanese capital. At least 10 of the strikes were simultaneous, in what the Israeli air force described as “a widespread attack.”

The attacks appeared to be a last attempt by Israel to gain the upper hand in its war with Hezbollah, since Netanyahu, even before speaking to his countrymen, had signaled he was open to a cease-fire. The militants began attacking Israel in October 2023 in support of Hamas militants fighting their war with Israel in Gaza.

The Cabinet-level talks occurred at the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The cease-fire deal, brokered by U.S. and French diplomats, would halt the fighting and start a 60-day period in which Israel and Hezbollah would withdraw from southern Lebanon.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a news conference at a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy that if the ceasefire is adopted, “it’s the best way to guarantee there is peace, there is stability.”

Blinken said a deal to end Israel-Hezbollah fighting also could push Hamas to reach a long-stalled cease-fire pact in Gaza because it would no longer have an Iranian-funded ally fighting Israel on a second front in northern Israel and Lebanon.

Under the proposed cease-fire, Israeli forces would retreat south of the Lebanon-Israel border, while Hezbollah would move north of the Litani River. The plan calls for the Lebanese army, which is not involved in the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, to patrol the region between the two warring sides.

Even as Netanyahu said he favored the deal, it was not clear whether some of his far-right colleagues in the Israeli parliament would go along with the proposal. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem suggested last week that the militants would agree to a truce if Israel stopped attacks on Lebanon and Lebanon retained its sovereignty.

But difficulties remained in reaching a cease-fire, such as how Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the border area would be monitored.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Israel to agree to the cease-fire, saying there are “no more excuses.”

Speaking to reporters ahead of the G7 meeting, Borrell said a cease-fire is “absolutely necessary” for civilians displaced by several months of intensified fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border. The G7 comprises the world’s leading industrialized democracies.

Borrell expressed hope that Netanyahu’s government would approve a cease-fire on Tuesday without seeking to add additional stipulations that could delay or derail an agreement.

“No more excuses. No more additional requests. Stop this fighting. Stop killing people. And let’s start thinking on peace,” Borrell said.

U.S. officials expressed hope Monday that a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah was close.

Speaking to reporters during a press call, national security spokesperson John Kirby described recent talks in Beirut led by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein as "constructive," adding, "We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction."

In New York on Monday, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said negotiations toward a cease-fire are "moving forward" but have not been “finalized."

He added that Israel would retain the ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement.

“We will make sure that we will have the ability to neutralize any threat that will not be dealt [with] in southern Lebanon. I hope that the Lebanese army will take care of that in the future, but if they will fail, again, we will be there,” Danon said.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's deputy speaker, Elias Bou Saab, said there are no major obstacles to implementing a cease-fire deal.

A five-nation committee, chaired by the United States and including France, will oversee the cease-fire process, according to Bou Saab.

The fighting in Lebanon has caused a humanitarian crisis, displacing hundreds of thousands.

On Monday, the United Nations World Food Program announced that it has provided emergency aid to more than a half million people in Lebanon since the conflict began. The WFP said it plans to reach 1 million people and is continuing to work to deliver critical assistance to affected communities.

In the October 2023 attack on Israel that ignited the Middle East warfare, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead.

Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,235 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.

The United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries designate Hamas and Hezbollah as terror groups.

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching and United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.