Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Lebanon Ceasefire Deal, After 11th-hour Strikes On Central Beirut

The Israeli security cabinet on Tuesday voted to approve a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, potentially bringing an end to more than a year of cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah and months of a full-scale war that has killed thousands.

The cabinet approved the deal by a majority of 10 to one, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said, thanking the United States for its involvement.

US President Joe Biden said the deal “is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” In an address from the White House Rose Garden, Biden said he had spoken with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon, and that both countries accepted the US proposal “to end the devastating conflict” between Israel and Hezbollah.

The 60-day ceasefire aims to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, with the hope that it could form the basis of a lasting truce.

Resolution 1701 was adopted to end a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, and had kept relative calm in the area for nearly two decades. That lasted until the day after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel last year, when Hezbollah attacked in solidarity, beginning more than a year of conflict.

The resolution stipulated that Israel must withdraw all its forces from southern Lebanon, and that the only armed groups present south of the Litani river should be the Lebanese military and UN peacekeeping forces.

In a symbolic milestone earlier Tuesday, Israeli soldiers reached the Litani river for the first time the military began ground operations in Lebanon in September.

In the hours before the vote, Israel drastically stepped up its strikes on Beirut, targeting central areas of the city – not just its Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs – for the first time in the conflict. At least 10 people were killed in the strikes on central Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.