(26 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 26 November 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Federman, The Associated Press:
"Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have agreed to a cease fire after nearly 14 months of fighting. The US brokered deal calls on both sides to remove their forces from southern Lebanon, and it will allow over a million displaced people in Lebanon and tens of thousands of Israelis to return to their homes. The agreement is to be enforced by international mediators, Lebanese government forces and U.N. peacekeepers on the ground. Now, this deal marks a rare diplomatic victory for (US) President Joe Biden, and it should help lower tensions across the Middle East. But it does not end them altogether. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked the Americans for securing this deal, but he says that Israel is prepared to return to Lebanon and send troops in if it believes that Hezbollah is violating the ceasefire. More critically, the agreement does not include a ceasefire to end the devastating war in Gaza. Biden says he hopes to use the momentum from this deal in Lebanon to restart, to relaunch a last ditch diplomatic push aimed at ending that war in Gaza. But already Netanyahu is signalling resistance. He says that Israel will continue with its campaign in Gaza until it destroys the Hamas militant group. That does not bode well for Biden's diplomatic initiative and it also signals continued uncertainty for the people of Gaza and the families of dozens of Israeli hostages being held there."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon that will take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Moments after U.S. President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire deal, which Israel's Cabinet approved late Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike slammed into the Lebanese capital.
Residents of Beirut and its southern suburbs have endured the most intense day of Israeli strikes since the fighting began nearly 14 months ago, as Israel's nationwide onslaught of bombings signalled it aims to keep pummelling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold.
The agreement reportedly calls for a 60-day halt in fighting that would see Israeli troops retreat to their side of the border while requiring Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon.
Under the deal, thousands of Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers are to deploy to the region south of the Litani River.
An international panel lead by the U.S. would monitor compliance by all sides. Biden said the deal “was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.”
Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz insisted Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, does not provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south.
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