Netanyahu announces cabinet set to approve ceasefire deal with Lebanon

TEL AVIV

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that the Israeli Cabinet is set to approve of a ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Nov. 26, claiming that Israel has a right to respond forcefully to any “violations” by Hezbollah.

Netanyahu stated that Israel will maintain 'full' freedom to act in Lebanon and that the truce will allow Israel to "focus on the Iranian threat."

“If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.”

Israel stepped up its bombardment of Lebanon in the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, killing at least 23 people, according to local authorities. The military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold.

The latest attack hit central Beirut's Hamra district after an Israeli warning shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet would agree to a truce with Hezbollah.

Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati demanded in a statement on that the international community "act swiftly" to halt Israeli aggression "and implement an immediate ceasefire."

Furthermore, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that an agreement that would end the more than year-long hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah is in its "final stages," adding that he hopes the ceasefire will be reached "very soon" and "will make a big difference" in Lebanon, Israel and beyond.

"It will make a big difference in saving lives and livelihoods in Lebanon and in Israel. It will make a big difference in creating the conditions that will allow people to return to their homes safely in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon," he told reporters during a news conference in Italy where he was meeting with G7 foreign ministers.

"I also believe that by descalating tensions in the region, it can also help us to end the conflict in Gaza, in particular, Hamas will know that it can't count on other fronts opening up in the war," he added.

Blinken said that "as a general matter," Israel "will always have the right to deal with challenges or threats to its security," if an agreement is finalized.

Negotiators have been engaged in intensive last-minute talks in the past week to finalize the deal, with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein returning to Washington on Nov. 25 after shuttling between Beirut and Israel.

Reports have suggested that U.S. President Joe Biden will announce the agreement in a televised address later on Nov. 26.

More than 3,760 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with nearly 15,700 injured and over 1 million displaced since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel had expanded the conflict by launching a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.