A ceasefire with Lebanon was announced by the Israeli cabinet at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday by a vote of 10 to 1, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.
President Joe Biden announced that the deal would take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
The ceasefire will provide the conditions needed for a return to calm in the country, and France and the United States will both work to ensure the ceasefire is fully implemented, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
This comes after several days of strained last-minute negotiation, in which Israel pushed for the removal of France as guarantor of the security situation in Lebanon, citing current diplomatic tensions between France and Israel.
The deal passed through the war and general cabinet before being fully approved. Netanyahu also ran the ceasefire past by the heads of the local authorities in the North, many of whom responded with anger at being told the deal would not lead to an immediate return to their homes.
Members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee demanded Defense Minister Israel Katz present the ceasefire agreement to them before final approval.
What’s on the table?
An Israeli official told Maariv that the ceasefire was not the end of the war and that Israel maintained its right to respond to any threat.
The source also said that the severing of the connection between the Gazan and Lebanese fronts would leave Hamas isolated, something also highlighted by Netanyahu in his speech.
Sources told Saudi channel Al Hadath that there would be no buffer zone in South Lebanon according to the agreement.
Hezbollah’s response
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah MP, told Reuters in response to the announcement that Hezbollah would remain active, including in providing social services to displaced Lebanese civilians.
Fadlallah called the final hours before the ceasefire “dangerous, sensitive hours,” given that the IDF launched a large-scale attack on Beirut earlier on Tuesday.
Israeli Right-wing
MK Zvi Sukkot, Otzmah Yehudit, said he would support a ceasefire as the IDF had managed to remove 80% of the leading figures in Hezbollah, reversing his previous opposition.
Several other right-wing figures have come out either conditionally approving or rejecting the ceasefire, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Naftali Bennett.
The Shiite Muslims are the most devastated
The most devastated by the Israeli Hezbollah war are the Shiite Muslims, and many of them believe they are being unfairly punished because they share a religious identity with Hezbollah militants and often live in the same areas.
As Shiites flee their war-torn villages and neighborhoods, the conflict is increasingly following them to other parts of Lebanon, and this is fueling tensions, as scores of people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Christian, Sunni, and Druze areas where displaced Shiites had taken refuge. Many residents in these areas now think twice before providing shelter to displaced people out of fear they may have links to Hezbollah.
Since last October, more than 3,900 people have been killed in Lebanon, and women and children accounted for more than 25% of the dead, according to the Health Ministry, because Hezbollah hides most of its arms in residential areas. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes. Shiites make up about 25% of Lebanon’s 5 million people.
Hezbollah arms are a huge concern in Lebanon
File : Masked Hezbollah fighters as they march through a suburb of Beirut in May 2008 , when the party occupied a large section of Beirut . and tried but failed to occupy Mount Lebanon. The majority of the Lebanese now consider the heavily armed and Iran backed militia as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty
Following the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, Hezbollah seized control of downtown Beirut and, two years later, occupied the western part of the city. Its failed attempt to extend its reach into Mount Lebanon highlighted the dangerous lengths it is willing to go to assert dominance.
the majority of the Lebanese people may face greater danger after the war between Israel and Hezbollah ends than during the conflict itself. History shows that Hezbollah does not hesitate to turn its weapons inward. If it loses a war with Israel, the consequences for Lebanon’s civilian population could be devastating, as they have been in the past.
Many in Lebanon are calling for an expanded role for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to protect them from Hezbollah, which remains the only armed militia in Lebanon.
Jerusalem Post/ Ya Libnan