Sawt Falasteen - Israel to decide on ceasefire as US says deal 'close'

The United States, European Union and United Nations have all been actively pushing in recent days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which flared into all-out war in late September.

Lebanon says at least 3,768 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past few weeks.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official told AFP that the country's security cabinet "will decide on Tuesday evening on the ceasefire deal".

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby expressed optimism over the prospects for a truce but said talks were ongoing.

"We believe we've reached this point where we're close," Kirby told reporters, adding "we're not there yet".

France, which alongside Washington has spearheaded efforts towards a Lebanon truce, on Monday reported "significant progress" in talks on a ceasefire. The French presidency urged Israel and Hezbollah to "seize this opportunity."

The US news site Axios had previously reported the parties were nearing an agreement that would involve a 60-day transition period in which the Israeli army would pull back, the Lebanese army would redeploy near the border and Iran-backed Hezbollah would withdraw its heavy weapons north of the Litani River.

The draft agreement also provides for the establishment of a US-led committee to oversee implementation, as well as US assurances that Israel can take action against imminent threats if the Lebanese military does not, according to Axios.

News of the security cabinet meeting came as the Israeli military said it carried out a wave of strikes on Monday, including on Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah that Israel has repeatedly bombed since late September when it escalated its air campaign in Lebanon.

The latest strikes targeted "command centres, and intelligence control and collection centres, where Hezbollah commanders and operatives were located", the military said in a statement.

They followed an intense salvo of Hezbollah fire over the weekend, with the group claiming 50 attacks against Israel on Sunday, including some deep inside its territory.

- Syria strikes -

Recent days have seen rising calls to end the fighting in Lebanon, with a senior UN official on Monday urging "the parties to accept a ceasefire".

And in Beirut on Sunday, top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate truce, days after US envoy Amos Hochstein said a deal was "within our grasp".

Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was likely to endorse a US ceasefire proposal.

Asked in New York about the possible ceasefire agreement, Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said "we are moving forward on this front", adding the cabinet would meet soon to discuss it.

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah. The group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

The Lebanon hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians on the Israeli side, authorities say.

Syrian state television reported Israeli strikes on several bridges in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border on Monday. Israel accuses Hezbollah of using key routes for people fleeing the war in Lebanon to transfer weapons from Syria.

- Deal a 'mistake' -

The initial exchanges of fire forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes, and Israeli officials have said they are fighting so the residents can return safely.

Some northern residents expressed fears as to whether that is possible under a ceasefire.

"In my opinion, it would be a serious mistake to sign an agreement as long as Hezbollah has not been completely eliminated," said Maryam Younnes, 29, an Israeli-Lebanese student from Maalot-Tarshiha. "It would be a mistake to sign an agreement as long as Hezbollah still has weapons."

Dorit Sison, 51, a teacher displaced from Shlomi, said: "I don't want a ceasefire, because if they do it along the lines that they've announced, we'll be in the same place in five years."

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir warned reaching a ceasefire deal in Lebanon would be a "historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah".

"I understand all the constraints and reasons, and still it is a grave mistake," he wrote on X.

Ben Gvir has repeatedly threatened to bring down the government if it agrees to a truce deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip or Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Efforts this year by mediators to secure a truce and hostage-release deal in the Gaza war have failed. Qatar early this month said it was suspending its mediation role until the warring sides showed "seriousness".

With an intensive Israeli military operation in Gaza's besieged north in its 50th day, remaining residents are left "scavenging among the rubble" for food, Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, told AFP.

Such scavenging puts Gazans at risk of coming into contact with unexploded and unused ordnance that can be found in many populated areas of the territory, the Danish Refugee Council said in a report.

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L.Hussein--SF-PST