United States President Joe Biden says Israel and Lebanon have accepted a US proposal to end the “devastating” Israel-Hezbollah conflict, setting the stage for a halt to nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting that has killed thousands of people.
In a televised address from Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Biden said the truce would begin at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday and that the agreement was “designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities”.
In a call with Biden, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he welcomed the US-brokered deal to end hostilities between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, his office said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US president that his government had approved the truce and that he appreciated his “understanding that Israel will maintain its freedom of action in enforcing it”, his office said.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel will “gradually withdraw” its forces from southern Lebanon over the next 60 days, Biden said, and the Lebanese Army and state security forces would deploy to the territory.
“Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt,” he added.
The announcement comes as Israel continues to bombard Lebanon, with Israeli warplanes pounding Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military said that one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds.
Seven people were killed and 37 others wounded in Israeli attacks on a Beirut building housing displaced people, the National News Agency reported, citing Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people,” Lebanon’s official news agency said.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said earlier that Israeli strikes had killed at least 31 people on Monday, mostly in the south of the country.
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