Jerusalem, Israel – (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would bring a US-brokered proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon to his security cabinet for a vote as soon as Tuesday evening.
“Citizens of Israel, this evening I will bring a ceasefire outline for the (security) cabinet’s approval,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
Netanyahu did not say how long the truce would last, noting “the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon”.
He added: “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike. If they try to renew terror activities near the border, we will strike. If they launch a rocket, dig a tunnel, or bring in a truck with missiles, we will strike.”
Key Israel backer the United States has led ceasefire efforts for Lebanon alongside allies, including France.
“In full coordination with the United States, we are maintaining full military freedom of action,” he said.
The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah.
The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
The war has killed at least 3,799 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.
Netanyahu listed Israel’s reasons for a ceasefire including “focusing on the Iranian threat” and “isolating Hamas”.
Netanyahu said Israel would ramp up its fight against Hamas in Gaza.
“From day two of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own,” he said.
“We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages.”
During last year’s Hamas attack, militants took 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army has declared dead.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,249 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
© Agence France-Presse
