By Aaron Boxerman and Patrick Kingsley
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Israeli Cabinet to accept an “outline for a cease-fire” with Hezbollah on Tuesday night, raising hopes that the fighting in Lebanon could soon be suspended after more than a year of conflict.
“The length of the cease-fire will depend on what happens in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “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 said there were three main reasons for a cease-fire: It would allow Israel to focus on Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas; give the military an opportunity to rebuild its stockpiles; and isolate Hamas, the group Israel has been fighting in the Gaza Strip since it led the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
Lebanon’s government, which does not control Hezbollah but whose approval is also essential for the deal to move forward, was set to meet Wednesday morning to discuss the cease-fire agreement.
The prime minister’s announcement came after Israeli forces launched a withering barrage of strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, hitting the heart of Beirut and Hezbollah-dominated neighborhoods south of the city.
The Israeli military also told entire towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate, including Naqoura, where a U.N. peacekeeping force is based. The intense flurry of strikes came even as Netanyahu signaled he was open to ending Israel’s 13-month war with Hezbollah.
The cease-fire proposal, mediated by U.S. and French diplomats, would start a 60-day process during which both sides would stop fighting and withdraw from southern Lebanon. Israeli forces would return south of the Israel-Lebanon border, while Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River, allowing the Lebanese army — which is not a combatant in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict — to fill the vacuum.
But many questions about the proposal remain unanswered, including how the Lebanese army would exert authority over the powerful militia. Israel has sought guarantees from the United States that it would have U.S. support to send troops back into southern Lebanon if Hezbollah violated the arrangement.
Netanyahu is said to favor a deal, but some of his ministers, including far-right leaders who hold the balance of power in his coalition, have expressed strong reservations.
Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, suggested last week that the group would accept a truce if Israel stopped striking Lebanon and Lebanon retained its sovereignty.
The conflict began in October 2023 after Hezbollah, which dominates large parts of southern Lebanon, began firing at Israeli military positions in solidarity with its ally Hamas, which had just raided southern Israel.
Israel returned fire and the conflict gradually escalated into a war that displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Fighting intensified over the summer as Israel scaled up its strikes, attacking neighborhoods south of Beirut that are dominated by Hezbollah and killing thousands — among them scores of Hezbollah commanders, including the group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah. On Sept. 30, Israeli troops crossed the border in a full-scale ground invasion, later capturing and decimating several villages.
Here’s what else to know:
— More strikes: On Tuesday, the Israeli military pounded central Beirut and its surrounding area with some of the most intense bombardment of the war. The airstrikes struck in Beirut after a series of evacuation warnings for the center of the city, the first for the area during the war.
— The agreement: The cease-fire would officially be among Israel, Lebanon and the mediating countries, including the United States. A top Lebanese lawmaker has been acting as a liaison with Hezbollah, which the country’s government does not control, and Hezbollah would not technically be a party to the deal. The United States designates Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
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