Middle East latest: Israel agrees to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon starting at 4 am

Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon that will take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Moments after U.S. President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire deal, which Israel's Cabinet approved late Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike slammed into the Lebanese capital.

Residents of Beirut and its southern suburbs have endured the most intense day of Israeli strikes since the war began nearly 14 months ago, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold.

At least 24 people have killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens across the country’s north.

An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south.

In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

___

Here's the Latest:

Lebanon’s prime minister welcomes Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

BEIRUT -- Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hezbollah, describing it as a crucial step toward stability, the return of displaced people to their homes and regional calm.

Mikati made these comments in a statement issued just after U.S. President Joe announced the truce deal.

Mikati said he discussed the ceasefire agreement with Biden by phone earlier Tuesday.

The prime minister reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to implementing U.N. resolution 1701, strengthening the Lebanese army’s presence in the south, and cooperating with the U.N. peacekeeping force. He also called on Israel to fully comply with the ceasefire and withdraw from southern Lebanon in accordance the U.N. resolution.

Netanyahu’s office says his security Cabinet has approved ceasefire deal with Hezbollah

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, clearing the way for the truce to take effect.

Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 margin. The late-night vote came shortly before President Joe Biden was expected to announced details of the deal in Washington.

Earlier, Netanyahu defended the ceasefire, saying Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah and could now focus its efforts on Hamas militants in Gaza and his top security concern, Iran. Netanyahu vowed to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal.

Trump's pick for key adviser credits the president-elect with helping cement Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s designate to be national security adviser, credited Trump’s victory with helping bring the parties together toward a ceasefire in Lebanon.

“Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East.”

He added: “But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism.”

Israel airstrikes keep pounding Lebanese capital in the war's biggest wave of attacks

BEIRUT — Israeli jets targeted a building in a bustling commercial area of Beirut for the first time since the start of the 13-month war between Hezbollah and Israel. The strike on Hamra is around 400 meters (yards) from the country’s central bank. A separate strike hit the Mar Elias neighborhood in the country’s capital Tuesday.

There was no immediate word on casualties from either strike, part of the biggest wave of attacks on the capital since the war started. Residents in central Beirut were seen fleeing after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for four targets in the city.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on at least 30 targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including two strikes in the Jnah neighborhood near the Kuwaiti Embassy. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that 13 people were injured in the strikes on the southern suburbs.

Hezbollah official says the group hasn't seen a final ceasefire agreement

BEIRUT — Hezbollah has said it accepts the ceasefire proposal with Israel, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

“We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.”

Among the issues that may remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve a Hezbollah cease-fire proposal

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his Cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.

The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.

In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.

Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s south and east kill at least 13 people

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state media said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 10 people in Baalbek province the country’s east.

At least three people were killed in the southern city of Tyre when Israel bombed a Palestinian refugee camp, said Mohammed Bikai, a representative of the Fatah group in the area. He said several more people were missing and at least three children were among the wounded.

He said the sites struck inside the camp were “completely civilian places” and included a kitchen that was being used to cook food for displaced people.

Israelis protest for a Gaza hostage release deal

JERUSALEM — Dozens of Israeli protesters took to a major highway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to call for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as the country awaited news of a potential ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

Protesters chanted “We are all hostages,” and “Deal now!” waving signs with faces of some of the roughly 100 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza, at least a third of whom are thought to be dead. Most of the other hostages Hamas captured in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack were released during a ceasefire last year.

The prospect of a ceasefire deal in Lebanon has raised desperation among the relatives of captives still held in Gaza, who once hoped that the release of hostages from Gaza would be included. Instead of a comprehensive deal, the ceasefire on the table is instead narrowly confined to Lebanon.

Dozens of Israelis were also demonstrating against the expected cease-fire, gathering outside Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

One of the protesters, Yair Ansbacher, says the deal is merely a return to the failed 2006 U.N. resolution that was meant to uproot Hezbollah from the area. “Of course that didn’t happen,” he says. “This agreement is not worth the paper it is written on.”

G7 leaders endorse Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and insist Israel follow international law

FIUGGI, Italy — Foreign ministers from the world’s industrialized countries said Tuesday they strongly supported an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and insisted that Israel comply with international law in its ongoing military operations in the region.

At the end of their two-day summit, the ministers didn't refer directly to the International Criminal Court and its recent arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over crimes against humanity.

Italy had put the ICC warrants on the official meeting agenda, even though the G7 was split on the issue. The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, isn’t a signatory to the court and has called the warrants “outrageous.” However, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said all the other G7 countries were signatories and therefore obliged to respect the warrants.

In the end, the final statement adopted by the ministers said Israel, in exercising its right to defend itself, “must fully comply with its obligations under international law in all circumstances, including international humanitarian law.”

And it said all G7 members — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – “reiterate our commitment to international humanitarian law and will comply with our respective obligations.” It stressed that “there can be no equivalence between the terrorist group Hamas and the State of Israel.”

The ICC warrants say there's reason to believe Netanyahu used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

Israel strikes in central Beirut kill at least 7 people and wound 37

BEIRUT — An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

It was not immediately clear if anyone in particular was targeted, though Israel says its airstrikes target Hezbollah officials and assets.

The Israeli military spokesman issued a flurry of evacuation warnings for many areas, including areas in Beirut that have not been targeted throughout the war, like the capital’s commercial Hamra district, where many people displaced by the war have been staying.

The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks in Lebanon during the final hours before a ceasefire is reached, sparked panic and sent residents fleeing in their cars to safer areas.

In areas close to Hamra, families including women and children were seen running away toward the Mediterranean Sea’s beaches carrying their belongings. Traffic was completely gridlocked as people tried to get away, honking their car horns as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.

The Israeli military also issued warnings for 20 more buildings in Beirut’s suburbs to evacuate before they too were struck — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah in the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold.

Independent Israeli commission blames Netanyahu and others for October 2023 attack

TEL AVIV, Israel — The independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly responsible for the failures leading up to the attack, alongside former defense ministers, the army chief and the heads of the security services.

The civil commission presented its findings today after a four-month probe in which it heard some 120 witnesses. It was set up by relatives of victims of the Hamas attack, in response to the absence of any state probe.

The commission determined that the Israeli government, its army and security services “failed in their primary mission of protecting the citizens of Israel.” It said Netanyahu was responsible for ignoring “repeated warnings” ahead of Oct. 7, 2023 for what it described as his appeasing approach over the years toward Hamas, and for “undermining all decision-making centers, including the cabinet and the National Security Council, in a way that prevented any serious discussion” on security issues.

The commission further determined that the military and defense leaders bear blame for ignoring warnings from within the army, and for reducing the army’s presence along the Gaza border while relying excessively on technological means. On the day of the Hamas attack, the report says, the army’s response was both slow and lacking.

The civil commission called for the immediate establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack.

Netanyahu has opposed launching a state commission of inquiry, arguing that such an investigation should begin only once the war is over.

Israeli ground troops in Lebanon reach the Litani River

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says its ground troops have reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River — a focal point of the emerging ceasefire.

In a statement Tuesday, the army said it had reached the Wadi Slouqi area in southern Lebanon and clashed with Hezbollah forces.

Under a proposed ceasefire, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Israeli border.

The military says the clashes with Hezbollah took place on the eastern end of the Litani, just a few kilometers (miles) from the border. It is one of the deepest places Israeli forces have reached in a nearly two-month ground operation.

The military says soldiers destroyed rocket launchers and missiles and engaged in “close-quarters combat” with Hezbollah forces.

The announcement came hours before Israel’s security Cabinet is expected to approve a ceasefire that would end nearly 14 months of fighting.

Israeli airstrikes hit buildings near Beirut airport

BEIRUT — Israeli jets Tuesday struck at least six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including one that slammed near the country’s only airport.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen around the airport near the Mediterranean coast, which has continued to function despite its location beside the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.

The strikes come hours before Israel’s cabinet was scheduled to meet to discuss a proposal to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The proposal calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from Tuesday’s airstrikes.

EU top diplomat calls for urgent aid to Gaza

FIUGGI, Italy — EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded.

“The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.”

It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister.

Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions.

Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.”

Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

“Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice,” he said.

Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded.

It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister.

Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions.