Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked his security cabinet to approve a cease-fire agreement with the Lebanese group Hezbollah to end the fighting that has been going on for more than a year.
“Tonight I will bring before the cabinet a plan to end the fighting in Lebanon,” he said in his speech to the nation on Tuesday.
The length of the ceasefire “depends on what happens in Lebanon,” he said, warning the Iran-backed militia that any violation of the agreement’s terms would be met with a severe response.
“If Hezbollah tries to attack us, if they arm themselves, if they rebuild infrastructure near the border, we will attack them,” he said.
Netanyahu said in recent months that Israel had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other members of the leadership, destroyed the group’s missiles and destroyed underground tunnels in southern Lebanon.
“It is not like Hezbollah,” said the prime minister.
Referring to the heavy airstrikes that rocked the Lebanese capital earlier in the day, Netanyahu said: “The earth is shaking in Beirut.”
The Israeli Air Force has carried out several strikes in the center of Beirut and in the south of the city, which is the base of the Hezbollah movement.
Witnesses reported more than 20 attacks. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said at least 11 people died in neighboring areas of Beirut.
Netanyahu said the ceasefire agreement will be submitted to the cabinet on Tuesday evening.
Israel has been at war for more than a year on several fronts, with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel almost every day since the Gaza war began more than a year ago. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and, at the end of September, attacked southern Lebanon.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah killed nearly 3,800 people in Lebanon last year, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
After Netanyahu’s speech, Lebanon’s acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for an immediate ceasefire.
He called Israel’s attack on Beirut “horrifying.”
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