Israeli cabinet to vote on Lebanon ceasefire deal After Netanyahu approves ‘in principle,’ source says

ISRAEL – The Israeli cabinet will vote on a ceasefire deal in Lebanon on Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson told CNN, after a source familiar with the matter said the Israeli prime minister had approved the plan “in principle”. Netanyahu signaled his potential approval for the emerging ceasefire with Hezbollah during a security consultation with Israeli officials Sunday night, the source said.

On Monday, his spokesperson told CNN the Israeli cabinet will vote on the proposed deal on Tuesday and said it is expected to pass. Israel still has reservations over some details of the agreement, which were expected to be transmitted to the Lebanese government on Monday, the source said.

Those and other details are still being negotiated and multiple sources stressed that the agreement will not be final until all issues are resolved. Sources familiar with the negotiations said talks appear to be moving positively toward an agreement, but acknowledged that as Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade fire, one misstep could upend the talks. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called the deal a “big mistake” and said it would be “a historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.” Ben Gvir has also long worked to thwart potential ceasefire deals between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Benny Gantz, who resigned from Israel’s war cabinet in June over Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza, called on the prime minister to make the details of the ceasefire deal public. “It is the right of the residents of the north, the fighters and the citizens of Israel to know,” Gantz said. United States envoy Amos Hochstein said in Beirut last week that a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon was “within our grasp,” but that it was ultimately “the decision of the parties”. (CNN)

Photo: Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP)