Netanyahu backs US plan for ceasefire with Lebanon

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed a US plan for a ceasefire with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, marking a potential breakthrough in the devastating conflict which has gripped the Middle East.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, the Israeli premier said he had recommended the deal to his war cabinet, ahead of a vote expected later. It was not immediately clear if approved, when the ceasefire would come into effect or the exact terms.

But it comes as Israel launched its most intense wave of attacks yet on the bustling centre of Beirut and as it issued a record number of evacuation orders.

For more than a year near-daily rocket fire, ferocious airstrikes and on-the-ground battles between Israeli forces and the militant group across Lebanon has claimed the lives of thousands of people there.

“This evening I will bring a ceasefire outline for the cabinet’s approval. The length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon,” Mr Netanyahu said, adding that if Hezbollah violates the agreement, tries to arm itself or rebuilt infrastructure “we will attack”.

“A year later, it is not the same Hezbollah. We have pushed them back decades . We eliminated [Hezbollah chief] Nasrallah, the axis of the axis. We have taken out the organisation’s top leadership, we have destroyed most of their rockets and missiles… infrastructure they had been building for years.”

He cited three reasons for backing the agreement, which has been slammed by far-right members of his government, including “focusing on the Iranian threat” allowing Israeli forces to refresh and separating the conflict from the war in Gaza, further isolating militant group Hamas.

“We have turned the tables,” he said, adding “the ground in Beirut is shaking.”

Mr Netanyahu gave no details of what was in the agreement that he put to the cabinet. However, previous reports suggested it would include a 60-day truce, including the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and the removal of Hezbollah fighters and weapons from south of the Litani River, Lebanon’s largest waterway.

Thousands of troops from the Lebanese Army will be deployed, and an international committee headed up by the US will monitor the implementation of the ceasefire.

Under the reported plan, the US will lead a five-country monitoring committee, while the UN peacekeeping force in the south of Lebanon (Unifil) will be reinforced.Following the news Rana Sahili, a media spokesperson for Hezbollah told The Independent that the militant group does “not trust the Israelis” .

“The countries that support [the Israelis] must provide guarantees,” Sahili added. If successfully enforced it would bring to halt ferocious fighting which has pushed the Middle East to the brink of an all-out regional war.

The Lebanese health ministry says nearly 3800 people have been killed in Lebanon in the 13 months since fighting erupted and the nearly two months since Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

The past few weeks have been the deadliest and most devastating for Lebanon in decades, the United Nations said this week. The UN’s humanitarian office said that Israel had “dramatically intensified” its airstrikes and ground incursions, resulting in an average of 250 deaths per week in November alone.

The conflict has sparked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis displacing over a million people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, including  half a million who have fled to war-ravaged Syria.

Black smoke rose above Beirut on Tuesday nights as Israel carried out a fresh wave of large-scale, deadly airstrikes in the bustling commercial heart of the Lebanese capital. There civilians fleeing the centre of the city, sent photos to the Independent showing panicked families stuck in long traffic jams.

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The Israeli military said its also struck dozens of sites in southern parts of Lebanon over several hours, and claimed to have killed a commander of the group in a ground attack.

At one point it released footage of its airforce striking 20 targets in two minutes across Beirut. In total 23 people were killed the country, according to local Lebanese authorities. There is mounting global pressure for a ceasefire in the conflict which has threatened to spread across the Middle East region.

Earlier in the day US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington had been focused on trying to get a ceasefire agreement over the line. “We’re intensely focused on this, we will be until the last day of this administration,” he said, defending Israel’s actions in Beirut by saying that both sides had exchanged fire regularly throughout the conflict.

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Before that  European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell is urged Israel to back the ceasefire deal, which he said had all the necessary security guarantees for Israel.

“No more excuses. No more additional requests,” Mr Borrell said.

G7 nations meeting in Italy on Tuesday also issued a statement pressing Israel to accept the ceasefire, saying “now is the time to conclude a diplomatic settlement.”

In a draft statement at the end of a two-day meeting in Italy, the G7 ministers urged Israel to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery to Palestinians, and condemned increasing settler violence in the West Bank.

However, Mr Netanyahu also faced pressure from inside his government against accepting a deal, with far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed on social-media platform X the agreement does not ensure the return of Israelis to their homes in the country’s north and that the Lebanese army did not have the ability to overcome Hezbollah.

“In order to leave Lebanon, we must have our own security belt,” Ben-Gvir said. Israeli mayors in the northern towns and communities of Israel also slammed the deal – telling the Independent it was a “surrender”.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the nation would show “zero tolerance” towards any infraction, as Israel demanded the UN enforce the terms of the agreement.

However, the prospect of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gazaleft Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel would focus squarely on the enclave.

“It showed Gaza is an orphan, with no support and no mercy from the unjust world,” said Abdel-Ghani, a father of five who only gave a first name.