Netanyahu (L) is expected to make a press statement Tuesday evening [Getty/file photo]
An Israeli cabinet meeting that was expected to discuss a draft ceasefire deal with Lebanon before putting it to a vote on Tuesday has been postponed, CNN reported, citing a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It was unclear why the meeting was delayed and whether another had been scheduled, but Sky News said Netanyahu is expected to give a statement to the media at 8pm local time (6pm GMT).
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is expected to make an announcement later Tuesday and the government in Beirut is expected to meet Wednesday to discuss the ceasefire deal.
On Tuesday morning, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that the Israeli state security cabinet “will meet this afternoon…to discuss the draft ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in preparation for its approval.”
“Netanyahu intends to get the agreement with Lebanon passed through the [state security] cabinet only” and not through the wider Israeli government, Kan added.
The Knesset – Israel’s parliament – does not need to vote on the deal, Kan said.
The state security cabinet is a smaller cabinet within the main government that focuses on Israel’s foreign and defence policies, overseeing major decisions taken throughout Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
Lebanese government sources have told LBCI that an agreement would be announced on Wednesday from the Grand Serail, Beirut’s council of ministers.
Lebanon and Israel reportedly agreed to a US-brokered deal on Monday that would end the war between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel erupted in October last year after the outbreak of war in Gaza.
Israel dramatically escalated its attacks on Lebanon in mid-September, turning the conflict into a full-blown war, destroying large parts of southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region but also taking out key Hezbollah leaders.
Over 3,700 people in Lebanon and more than 15,000 wounded as a result of the Israeli attacks, while around 1.3 million civilians have been displaced.
Netanyahu is expected to hold talks with mayors of northern Israeli towns and then make a statement to media on Tuesday, Kan said.
Netanyahu, along with his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, are now the targets of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Knesset member and former Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz said, “We must work with care and not miss the opportunity to reach a strong agreement to radically change the situation in the north.”
Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has come out against the deal, saying it would be a “historical missed opportunity” to completely eradicate Hezbollah.
Israel’s Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu, who previously called for a nuclear bomb to be dropped on Gaza, also opposes the deal, unless “it is to buy time until the new US [Trump] administration takes office”.
LBCI‘s Israel correspondent said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another extremist, is expected to vote in favour of the deal despite his initial opposition.
Despite talk of a deal, Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Tuesday, resulting in more deaths and destruction.
The Israeli military issued more evacuation orders for locations in Beirut and its southern suburbs, as reports in Israel warned of imminent Hezbollah rocket barrages.
The mayor of the coastal Israeli town of Nahariyya in northern Israel warned residents not to leave their homes for at least two days unless it was completely necessary.
Two people were wounded, one seriously by Hezbollah rocket fire in the town on Monday evening.
Hezbollah has over the past few days fired deep into Israel, including the southern port city of Ashdod for the first time in this war.
Clashes between Hezbollah’s fighters and Israeli soldiers continued in different parts of southern Lebanon with large explosions heard in the border town of Khiam on Monday, as Israeli forces tried to fully capture the town.
Lebanon’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that 10 Lebanese soldiers were killed, and 35 others were wounded in a week of deliberate Israeli attacks. The Lebanese army – which has not been involved in the fighting – will play a crucial role in implementing a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
