Israel and Hezbollah ceasefire deal to pause fighting begins

“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said in a televised address on Tuesday
A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah has begun. The pause in fighting came into effect at 4am local time (2am GMT) on Wednesday.
It marks a significant step in diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
Joe Biden has called Israel and Hezbollah’s ceasefire agreement “good news” and said it would allow civilians to “return and rebuild their homes”.
Speaking on Tuesday, the US president also expressed hope that the pause in more than 13 months of fighting will be a catalyst to end the war in Gaza.
The Israeli security cabinet voted to approve a ceasefire deal in Lebanon earlier on Tuesday.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the ceasefire as “long overdue” and said it would provide some relief to the civilians “who have suffered unimaginable consequences during the last few months of devastating conflict and bloodshed”.
Moments after Biden’s announcement, a huge Israeli airstrike shook Beirut.
It comes after Israel issued a record number of evacuation warnings on Tuesday, as the country launched its most intensive wave of strikes in Lebanon’s capital.
At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signalled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold.
In a televised address earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah was “no longer the same” after his country’s offensive.
Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, said he “welcomed” the ceasefire and thanked the US and France for helping to broker the deal.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mikati called on the international community to implement an “immediate” ceasefire.
Writing on X, he said the people of Beirut had “endured a lot” on Tuesday, referring to the latest bombardment from Israel.
The truce on Wednesday will see a 60-day halt in fighting to allow Hezbollah militants to head north, Biden said.
Israel’s military forces would move south and eventually withdraw from Lebanon entirely.
South Lebanon will become a border buffer zone with UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops deployed there, while Hezbollah will have to remain North of the Litani River.
Israel says it will be allowed to retain its right to strike if Hezbollah breaches the terms of the deal.
A joint statement from Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said the announcement would “cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations operating from Lebanon”.
They added that it would create the conditions to “restore lasting calm” and “allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line”.
“We remain determined to prevent this conflict from becoming another cycle of violence,” the joint statement added.
Starmer said progress must now be made towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
In a statement, he said: “The UK and its allies will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to break the ongoing cycle of violence in pursuit of a long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East.
“We must see immediate progress towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the release of all hostages and the removal of restrictions on desperately needed humanitarian aid.”
Israel and Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah have been trading cross-border fire almost daily since the day after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Two months ago, Israel escalated its campaign on Lebanon, issuing widespread bombardment and then a subsequent ground invasion.
At least 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, many of them civilians, according to the country’s health ministry.
More than 70 have been killed in Israel, over 40 of them civilians. In addition, more than 50 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.
Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been evacuated from their homes and uprooted their daily lives in the search for safety.
Why have ceasefire talks taken so long?
Despite the immense human toll that the war has taken, the path to resolution has been marred by stalemate talks.
For over a year, mediators from across the world have attempted to wind down the regional conflict, but negotiations have regularly been stalled, with the warring parties showing no signs of backing down.
The international community has regularly pushed for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006 to end a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah but was never fully enacted.
Hezbollah never ended its presence in southern Lebanon, while Lebanon said Israel regularly violated its airspace and occupied small patches of its territory.
One of the main points of contention between Lebanon and Israel has been the understanding of the Resolution 1707.
It was previously reported by two Western diplomats that Israel was asking for more guarantees to ensure that Hezbollah’s weapons are removed from the border area.
Israeli officials, concerned about the possibility of Hezbollah launching the kind of attack that Hamas carried out from Gaza into southern Israel, said they would not agree to a ceasefire deal that doesn’t explicitly grant them freedom to strike in Lebanon if they believe Hezbollah is violating it.
Lebanese officials have said agreeing to such a deal would violate Lebanon’s sovereignty. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem has said the militant group would not agree to a deal that does not entail a “complete and comprehensive end to the aggression” and does not protect Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Lebanon and Israel have also disagreed over which countries would sit on the international committee overseeing implementation of the deal and Resolution 1701.
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What does the ceasefire mean for Gaza and the rest of the Middle East?
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest of Iran’s armed proxies, is expected to significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of war between Israel and Iran directly.
Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it has now dropped that condition.
There has been no direct recognition of how the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire would affect Gaza.
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