The Israeli cabinet will vote on a ceasefire deal in Lebanon on Tuesday, November 26, Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson revealed on Monday, with sources reportedly saying that the Israeli prime minister had approved the plan “in principle.”
Netanyahu signaled his potential approval for the emerging ceasefire with Hezbollah during a security consultation with Israeli officials Sunday night.
On Monday, Netanyahu’s spokesperson said the Israeli cabinet will vote on the proposed deal on Tuesday and said it is expected to pass.
Israel still has reservations over some details of the agreement, which were expected to be transmitted to the Lebanese government on Monday, but they are still being negotiated and multiple sources stressed that the agreement will not be final until all issues are resolved.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called the deal a “big mistake” and said it would be “a historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
Ben Gvir has also tried to thwart potential ceasefire deals between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Benny Gantz, who resigned from Israel’s war cabinet in June over Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza, called on the prime minister to make the details of the ceasefire deal public.
“It is the right of the residents of the north, the fighters and the citizens of Israel to know,” Gantz said.
United States envoy, Amos Hochstein said in Beirut last week that a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon was “within our grasp,” but that it was ultimately “the decision of the parties.”
He met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the interlocutor with Hezbollah in the talks and said there had been “constructive” and “very good discussions to narrow the gaps.”
“We have a real opportunity to bring conflict to an end,” he added last week. “The window is now.” He departed Lebanon for Israel on Wednesday to try to bring the negotiations “to a close.”
The US-backed proposal aims to achieve a 60-day cessation of hostilities that some hope could form the basis of a lasting ceasefire.
Israel launched a major military offensive in Lebanon in mid-September following months of tit-for-tat border attacks which started on October 8 last year when Hezbollah attacked Israeli controlled territory in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza.
Since then, Israel has launched a ground invasion, killed a string of Hezbollah leaders including one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah and injured thousands of people in an attack featuring exploding pagers
