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Eytan Schweber/TPS on 26 November, 2024
Israeli Security Cabinet to Discuss Hezbollah Ceasefire
Jerusalem, 26 November, 2024 (TPS-IL) -- Israel’s Security Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday evening to discuss an emerging ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. It is widely expected the ministers will also vote on the agreement.
The emerging agreement calls for an initial two-month ceasefire. During this time, Hezbollah would withdraw its armed presence from areas of southern Lebanon south of the Litani River, as stipulated in by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second War in Lebanon in 2006. Israeli forces will also withdraw from southern Lebanon during the ceasefire.
The Lebanese Armed Forces would be deployed in southern Lebanon including along the 120 km border with Israel. Observers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) will continue their peacekeeping mission.
Evacuated residents of southern Lebanon will be allowed to return to their homes.
Reports have also suggested that Israeli and Lebanese negotiators may also begin indirect talks to demarcate the 120-km border often referred to as the Blue Line. The Blue Line was created in 2000 by United Nations cartographers to verify Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, which the UN Security Council later certified as complete. The border runs from Rosh HaNikra on the Mediterranean coast to Mount Dov, where the Israeli-Lebanese border converges with Syria.
The main sticking point is Israel’s demand for freedom of action in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the ceasefire.
Cracks in the governing coalition emerged as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other coalition lawmakers came out against a ceasefire.
“The agreement with Lebanon is a big mistake. A historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah. I understand all the constraints and reasons, and it is still a grave mistake,” Ben-Gvir said.
In the opposition, MK Benny Gantz insisted that responsibility for northern Israel’s security should not be placed in the hands of international monitors.
“We must not return to the reality of October 6. The [Israel Defense Forces] must maintain full freedom of action in the face of threats in Lebanon and continue offensive activity against Hezbollah infrastructure until a desired settlement is achieved,” said Gantz, a former military chief of staff.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned that an agreement that didn’t take the hostages into account would be a success for Hezbollah.
“An agreement without the repatriation of abductees means an explicit concession by the Israeli government on political and security levers essential for their return,” the Forum said. “Hezbollah and Hamas are an integral part of the Iranian Axis of Evil. The October attack was launched by Hamas acting on behalf of Iran. And Hezbollah joined the war and linked its fate with Hamas while itself making a direct and explicit connection to the war in Gaza and the October massacre.”
After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. More than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
