Lebanon's caretaker PM says Israel Hezbollah ceasefire could be 'hours' away
30 October 2024, 21:31
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister has said a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah could be just “hours or days away.”
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Najib Mikati said an agreement could be near after talks with American diplomat Amos Hochstein.
A deal would see a truce between Israeli forces and Hezbollah as well as seeing the IDF pulling out of Lebanon within a week of an agreement being signed.
According to local media, the deal would last 60 days but includes Israel's "right to act in self-defence" against imminent threats.
Mr Mikati said: "It was suggested to me that we could reach an agreement before the end of the month and before November 5th."
He added: "We are doing everything we can and we should remain optimistic that in the coming hours or days, we will have a ceasefire.”
The US has urged caution in the wake of these reports, with militant group Hezbollah suggesting they could keep fighting.
Hezbollah's newly named leader Naim Kassem said in his first public comments that the militant group will keep fighting in its ongoing war with Israel until it is offered ceasefire terms it deems acceptable.
"If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable," Mr Kassem said, speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded televised address.
"We will not beg for a cease fire as we will continue (fighting)... no matter how long it takes."
The speech came as international mediators have launched a new push for negotiated ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.
More than 2,790 people have been killed and 12,700 wounded in Lebanon since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation.
The conflict escalated sharply last month and Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.
Some 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon according to government estimates.
Mr Kassem, a cleric and founding member of the Lebanese militant group, was named on Tuesday to replace former longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb in late September.
