Israel says it's moving closer to Lebanon ceasefire

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A senior Israeli official said on Monday Israel's cabinet would meet on Tuesday to weigh a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah that could be cemented in coming days, and a Lebanese official said Beirut had been told by Washington that an accord could be announced "within hours".

Israeli officials had said earlier in the day that a deal to end the war was getting closer though there were still some issues to resolve, while two senior Lebanese officials voiced guarded optimism even as Israeli strikes pounded Lebanon anew.

U.S. news website Axios, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official, said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal, and that Israel's security cabinet was expected to approve the deal on Tuesday.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said talks toward a ceasefire with Hezbollah were "moving forward" but he stressed that Israel would maintain an ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on the Axios report.

In Beirut, Lebanese Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab told Reuters there were "no serious obstacles" left to beginning implementation of a U.S.-proposed ceasefire with Israel.

Bou Saab said the proposal would entail an Israeli military withdrawal from south Lebanon and regular Lebanese army troops deploying in the border region within 60 days.

Hostilities have intensified in parallel with the diplomatic flurry: Over the weekend, Israel carried out powerful airstrikes, one of which killed at least 29 people in central Beirut - while the Iran-backed Hezbollah unleashed one of its biggest rocket salvoes yet on Sunday, firing 250 missiles.

In Beirut, Israeli airstrikes levelled more of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Monday, sending clouds of debris billowing over the Lebanese capital.

Efforts to clinch a truce appeared to advance last week when U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein declared significant progress after talks in Beirut before holding meetings in Israel and then returning to Washington.

"We are moving in the direction towards a deal, but there are still some issues to address," Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said, without elaborating.

Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, told Israel's GLZ radio an agreement was close and "it could happen within days ... We just need to close the last corners", according to a post on X by GLZ senior anchorman Efi Triger.

Lebanese deputy speaker Bou Saab said earlier on Monday that a decisive moment was approaching and expressed cautious optimism. "The balance is slightly tilted towards there being (an agreement), but by a very small degree, because a person like Netanyahu cannot be trusted," he told a news conference.

A second senior Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Beirut had not received any new Israeli demands from U.S. mediators, who were describing the atmosphere as positive and saying "things are in progress".

The official told Reuters a ceasefire could be clinched this week.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into full-scale war in September when Israel went on the offensive, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt major blows to Hezbollah, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and inflicting massive destruction in areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.

Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border.



(Reporting by Hannah Confino, Maayan Lubell and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem; Laila Bassam, Tom Perry and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Tala Ramadan, Clauda Tanios and Nadine Awadalla in Dubai, Steve Holland in Washington; writing by Tom Perry and Mark Heinrich; Editing by Kevin Liffey)