According to Biden, the truce will come into effect at 3 a.m. on Wednesday Norwegian time.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the Israeli security cabinet on Tuesday to decide on a proposal for a cease-fire drawn up by the United States and France.
Nine of the ten members of the security cabinet turned the thumbs up, while Israel’s security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir voted against accepting a ceasefire.
After the Security Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu gave a televised speech in which he explained the decision.
Not Gaza
Netanyahu emphasized that there is only talk of a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and not with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
– We have set Hezbollah back several decades, claimed Netanyahu.
– If Hezbollah tries to attack us, if they arm themselves again, if they rebuild infrastructure near the border, then we will attack them, he added.
The ceasefire with Hezbollah will also make Israel better able to focus on the threat from Iran, Netanyahu stressed.
Transition period
According to the cease-fire, Israeli forces must be withdrawn completely from southern Lebanon within 60 days.
At the same time, the Hezbollah militia will withdraw from the border with Israel and move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River.
The agreement is thus in line with a resolution that the UN Security Council adopted in 2006 and which ended the then war between Israel and Hezbollah. However, the UN resolution has not been complied with in the years since.
The ceasefire agreement that has now been agreed stipulates that only the Lebanese government army and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL will henceforth patrol the border area with Israel.
Massive angrep
Hezbollah launched sporadic rocket attacks against Israeli targets last October, in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded with airstrikes and stepped up bombing and sent ground forces into southern Lebanon in September. A number of villages have since been razed, and Israel has also carried out massive airstrikes against Beirut and cities such as Tire and Baalbek.
According to the Ministry of Health in Lebanon, over 3,800 people have been killed and close to 16,000 injured in Israeli attacks since October last year, most of them during the last two months.
A few hours before the announcement of a cease-fire, Israel carried out a new round of attacks, including targeting several central districts of Beirut.
According to the country’s Ministry of Health, at least 23 people were killed and several dozen were injured in the attacks.
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