Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to convene his Cabinet on Tuesday amid reports that Israel is set to approve to a truce in the war against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
Netanyahu, according to Ynet, is slated to convene his coalition partners ahead of the Cabinet meeting, while the premier would also hold security consultations in a “limited forum.”
Saudi state-owned international television channel Al Arabiya cited a Lebanese official as saying on Monday that Beirut had been informed by the United States that an agreement with the Jewish state could be announced “within hours.”
One U.S. official told Axios, “We think we have a deal. We are on the goal line but we haven’t passed it yet. The Israeli Cabinet needs to approve the deal on Tuesday and something can always go wrong until then.”
Netanyahu reportedly backed the proposal “in principle” on Sunday, though at the time, several outstanding issues were yet to be resolved.
Among the remaining gaps between the sides was Israel’s demand that the Israel Defense Forces maintain freedom of action in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the truce terms by rearming itself and attempting to reestablish forces south of the Litani River.
The draft deal purportedly includes a 60-day transition period during which all IDF soldiers would withdraw from Southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed Forces would deploy in areas close to the border, and Hezbollah would move its “heavy weapons” north of the Litani River.
The deal is said to include a U.S.-led oversight committee to monitor implementation and address violations, with Jerusalem pledging to only take military action against recurring Hezbollah terrorist activities after conferring with the U.S. and if the Lebanese Armed Forces failed to deal with the threat.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily for over a year, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and suicide drones. Jerusalem has escalated attacks on Hezbollah since adding the return of displaced citizens to northern Israel to its official war goals on Sept. 17.
On Sunday, Hezbollah fired more than 240 projectiles at Israel, marking one of the most intense days of violence since the start of the war on the northern front on Oct. 8, 2023.
Several local authorities in northern Israel on Monday canceled in-person classes and public gatherings until Thursday, anticipating a flare-up in attacks from Lebanon ahead of a ceasefire.
The mayors of Metula and Kiryat Shmona, two towns on the northern border most affected by Hezbollah’s attacks, slammed the reported terms on Monday as a “surrender deal.”
“This agreement hastens [a repeat of the massacre of] Oct. 7 in the north and this cannot happen,” Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avichai Stern charged in a post on Facebook. “Where will our residents return to?”
