Israel and Hezbollah on the cusp of a peace deal: Netanyahu 'gives green light to ceasefire proposal'

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah could see the terrorist organisation and the Israeli forces withdraw their troops from southern Lebanon. 

The deal, which reportedly has the support of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu could see the nearly two-month-old Israeli incursion into Lebanon come to an end. 

A source within Netanyahu's government told the Daily Telegraph that the Israeli cabinet will vote on the proposals drawn up by the United States today. 

This new ceasefire proposal, largely built on a UN Security Council resolution , says that Israel must withdraw its forces from Lebanon, while Hezbollah must remove its forces from the south of the country.

If it backs the deal, Israel is expected to receive assurances from the US that it can act against violations of the deal as long as it is coordinated with Washington. 

At the same time, a US lead oversight committee will be in charge of monitoring Hezbollah's activities within Lebanon. 

The  Lebanese Government has expressed support for the deal but they have objected to any future violations of their sovereignty.

It is within Israel that opposition to the proposal is most potent with the far right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling the deal 'a big mistake.'

Others have objected to the involvement of France in negotiating the deal after Paris threatened to arrest Netanyahu should he visit France.

This comes following the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu . 

Israeli media has reported that the ceasefire would be the first step of the peace deal which if successful could see negotiations begin over the countries long disputed land border.

It calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River.

The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Lebanon, where Israel in late September escalated its air campaign and launched a ground offensive into the south after nearly a year of cross-border fire with Hezbollah.

To date, the Lebanese health ministry estimates that at least 3,754 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them since September.

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

Israel has sought to oust Hezbollah from its strongholds in southern Lebanon and the suburbs of Beirut with some 60,000 people displaced from northern Israel by the conflict.

In recent months, its military has killed nearly all of the group's leaders. But international pressure mounts amid fears of the conflict spilling into a regional war.

The withdrawals would be accompanied by an influx of thousands more Lebanese army troops, who have been largely sidelined in the war, to patrol the border area along with an existing U.N. peacekeeping force. 

The deal echoes the existing Resolution 1701, that critics say did little to keep Hezbollah at bay.

Hezbollah never ended its presence in southern Lebanon, while Lebanon says Israel regularly violated its airspace and occupied small patches of its territory.

Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas in 2023, Hezbollah has fired t least 13,000 missiles and drones into Israel killing 75 people.

Currently, no deal has been agreed to bring to an end the Israel-Hamas war which have struggled to make little to no progress. Earlier this month Qatar suspended its work as a mediator in ceasefire and hostage release talks between the two.

This follow reports that US officials reportedly said they would no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives at the talks while accusing the group of rejecting fresh proposals to end the war.

Since the conflict started over 43,000 Palestinians and 1,706 Israelis have died.