Israeli security cabinet considers Lebanon ceasefire

Israel's security cabinet convened tonight to discuss a possible Lebanon ceasefire, a senior Israeli official said, more than six weeks into a war with Hezbollah that spiralled out of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

US President Donald Trump earlier said the war with Iran could end soon, telling the world to watch out for an "amazing two days".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was under heavy pressure from Washington to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, another senior Israeli official said.

While the security cabinet was going on, however, Netanyahu released a video statement in which he said the Israeli military continued to strike at Hezbollah and was about to "overcome" the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.

Hezbollah fighters are holed up inside Bint Jbeil, a stronghold of the group and a gateway to surrounding villages.

Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to continue reinforcing the security zone in southern Lebanon while at the same time negotiating a peace deal with Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon held rare talks between government envoys in Washington yesterday.

"These negotiations have not taken place for over 40 years. They are happening now because we are very strong, and countries are coming to us - not only Lebanon," Netanyahu said.

President Trump would "welcome" an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but such an agreement is not part of peace talks with Iran, a senior US administration official said today.

"The president would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The United States wants to see a durable peace but did not demand an immediate ceasefire," and "negotiations between the US and Iran are not linked to ongoing peace talks between Israel and Lebanon," according to the official.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes had targeted paramedic teams in south Lebanon today, killing at least three of them.

"The Israeli enemy targeted paramedic teams in the town of Mayfadoun, Nabatiyeh District, three consecutive times," the ministry said in a statement.

"This resulted in the martyrdom of three paramedics and the injury of six others, while one paramedic remains missing."

Earlier, Hezbollah said the Lebanese government's decision to hold talks with Israel was "a national sin" that would widen divisions in Lebanon, underlining deep polarisation in the country as ⁠the Iran-backed group wages war with Israel.

Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said yesterday's US-mediated meeting between Lebanon's Washington ambassador and her Israeli counterpart did not reflect Lebanon's national identity or "the choices of its people".

The meeting hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the first such direct contact in decades between the two countries that have remained in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948.

Both sides said the talks were positive, though ahead of the meeting, Israel had ruled out any ‌discussion of Lebanon's demand for a ⁠ceasefire in the war, which erupted on 2 March when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran.

"Does the government not realise the danger of what it has undertaken? And does it understand that it has entered a wrong path that leads only to increasing the rift among the Lebanese?" Mr Fadlallah said.

"It has obtained ‌nothing from the enemy except praise without achieving any demand," he said in a televised statement.

Yesterday's meeting took place at a critical juncture ⁠in the crisis in the Middle East, a week into a fragile ceasefire between the ‌United States, Israel and Iran.

The wider conflict in the region began with ⁠US-Israeli strikes on ‌Iran on 28 February. Israel's offensive in Lebanon has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 1.2 million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.

Mr Fadlallah said his group wants a comprehensive ceasefire, rather than a return to near-daily ⁠Israeli strikes and assassinations as seen after it agreed to a previous ceasefire with Israel in November ⁠2024.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours, even as Israel and Lebanon agreed to pursue direct negotiations.

"In the past 24 hours, the IDF struck over 200 Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon, including launchers and terrorists," the military said.

The Lebanese state has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah peacefully since the 2024 war. Any move by Lebanon to disarm it by force risks igniting conflict in a country shattered by civil war from 1975 to 1990.

Moves against Hezbollah by a Western-backed government in 2008 prompted a short civil war.

The current government banned Hezbollah's military wing after it opened fire on ‌Israel last month.

Meanwhile, United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih has called on the international community to provide urgent support to Lebanon, with a fifth of the country's population displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war.

"I call upon the international community to provide urgent support and relief to Lebanon," he said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

"The humanitarian consequences of this war are immense, and I emphasise the need to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure from the ravages of attack.

"Lebanon does not deserve to be trapped in a recurring cycle of violence, it deserves support and stability."

He added that UNHCR has received "a portion" of the $61 million it had appealed for during the war to support Lebanon in its "unprecedented" displacement crisis, as more than a million people, or a fifth of the Lebanese population, are displaced by the conflict.

Of them, more than 140,000 are in government shelters.

The $61 million is part of the Lebanon Flash Appeal, launched by UN chief Antonio Guterres last month to gather $308 million to help the country.

War-ravaged Lebanon has been dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis since 2019 and was still reeling from the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war when the Iran-backed group drew it into the Middle East conflict last month.