A critical meeting today for the so-called security council of the Israeli government as it is expected to decide whether to declare a ceasefire in Israel’s war against the Lebanese Hezbollah, an official said yesterday Monday, while the US government assured that the agreement is “close”.

USA – France broker a truce

The French presidency, which is actively involved in international mediation efforts, also assured that the truce talks have “advanced significantly” and called on the government of Israel and Hezbollah to seize “this opportunity as soon as possible”.

These announcements were made against the background of the further escalation in recent days of Israeli bombings against strongholds of the Shiite movement close to Iran in the Lebanese territory. Yesterday Monday, at least 31 people were killed in the Israeli bombings, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Hezbollah’s support for Hamas

On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front with Israel in support of Hamas, its ally Palestinian Islamist movement, which has been targeted by devastating, wide-scale Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for its military arm’s unprecedented raid on southern Israel the previous day, October 7th 2023.

Israel from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon

After nearly a year of cross-border firefights and after it believed it had weakened Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel shifted the center of gravity of the war to Lebanese territory, launching an intensive air campaign against Hezbollah strongholds since September 23 and launching a ground offensive. seven days later.

Israel decides tonight

The Israeli government’s security council will decide “tonight” on the ceasefire agreement, an Israeli government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The role of Biden – Macron

Four Lebanese government sources told Reuters news agency that US Presidents Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are preparing to announce a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah possibly within the day.

John Kirby: We’re close to an agreement

“We are close” to an agreement, assured John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council of the American presidency. He emphasized, however, that nothing has been finalized yet: “nothing is done until everything is done,” he said, calling for prudence.

To a truce of 60 days

According to information from the American news site Axios, the agreement is based on a US plan that provides for a ceasefire for 60 days, during which both the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters will withdraw from the borders of the two states and develop the Lebanese armed forces.

What does the truce plan provide?

The plan includes the creation of an international monitoring committee to monitor the implementation of the agreement, the report added, citing US assurances that any Israeli operations would be supported in the event of hostile action by the Shiite movement.

The mediation is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, and stipulates that only the Lebanese army and the peacekeepers should be deployed on the borders of the two countries.

Opposing voices in the truce

But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the ceasefire agreement would be a “big mistake” and, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressed that “it is not too late to stop” and continue the war as the “total victory”..

Dorit Sisson, a teacher from northern Israel, 51, fears a settlement similar to the one in 2006, which she says has allowed Hezbollah to “re-arm”: It now “has tunnels, rockets, every possible weapon.”

Netanyahu for Hezbollah – Hamas

The Netanyahu government says it wants to guarantee that Hezbollah and Hamas, allies of Iran, the Jewish state’s sworn enemy, will not be able to harm Israel. He has vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7 attack and also says he intends to end rocket fire from Hezbollah, which has forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of the north over the past year.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah continued

Yesterday, the Israeli military confirmed that it had struck within an hour some 25 targets linked to Hezbollah in southern Beirut, southern and eastern Lebanon. In the evening, there were new bombings in the southern part of Beirut, according to the Lebanese news agency ANI.

Hezbollah fired at least 30 missiles into Israeli territory, according to the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, fighting continued between Hezbollah forces and Israeli troops, according to ANI.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, nearly 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, the vast majority since September 23.

On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed in 13 months, according to official data.

Israeli bombings in Gaza as well

At the same time on the so-called southern front, in the besieged, ruined and threatened by famine Gaza Strip, the war continued yesterday for the 416th day with Israeli bombardments mainly in its northern part.

“There are about 65,000 people in the besieged zones” in the northern Gaza Strip. “We hear they’re looking in garbage cans, in the debris, trying to find old cans, any food they can,” said Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), who is in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have claimed the lives of at least 44,235 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.

Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU, took power in the Palestinian enclave in 2007, two years after Israel unilaterally withdrew from the coastal region it had occupied for 38 years.

Hamas’ attack on southern Israeli territory on October 7, 2023 killed 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data, which includes hostages who were already dead when taken to the Palestinian enclave or died in captivity. 251 people were kidnapped that day, of which 97 remain hostages in the Gaza Strip, however 34 of them have been declared dead by the Israeli army.