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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Lydia Chantler-Hicks

Ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be reached 'within days'

Smoke rises between buildings hit in a Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on November 17 - (AP)

The Israeli ambassador to Washington has said a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached "within days".

Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that there remained "points to finalise" and that any deal required agreement from the government.

But he said "we are close to a deal" and that "it can happen within days".

Later on Monday, Lebanon's deputy speaker of parliament Elias Bou Saab told news agency Reuters there were "no serious obstacles" left to beginning the implementation of the US-proposed 60-day truce to end fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

He said one sticking point on who would monitor the ceasefire had been resolved in the last 24 hours by agreeing to set up a five-country committee, including France and chaired by the United States.

Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act if Hezbollah violates its obligations under the emerging deal.

Firefighters battle flames after a building was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the Hadath neighbourhood of Beirut on November 23 (AFP via Getty Images)

The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah did not adhere to a UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between the sides that made similar provisions, and Israel has concerns that it could stage a Hamas-style cross-border attack from southern Lebanon if it maintains a heavy presence there.

Lebanon says Israel also violated the 2006 resolution.

It is not clear whether Lebanon would agree to the demand.

The optimism surrounding a deal comes after a top US envoy held talks between the sides last week in a bid to clinch an agreement.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas' raid on southern Israel, setting off more than a year of fighting.

That escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli air strikes in Lebanon and later an Israeli ground incursion into the country's south.

Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israeli cities and towns, including some 250 on Sunday.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (AP)

Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be "sentenced to death" for his role in the ongoing wars in the Gaza Strip against Hamas and in Lebanon.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the remarks during an event in which he spoke to members of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Khamenei referenced the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Israel's former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

"What the Zionist regime did in Gaza and Lebanon is not a victory, it is a war crime. Now they have issued a warrant for their arrest. This is not enough," Khamenei said, according to remarks published by the state-run IRNA news agency.

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