Inasmuch as ceasefire that the United States helped negotiate between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group took effect Wednesday, President Biden said his administration would quickly launch “another push” with international partners to reach an agreement to end the conflict even further murderer. war in the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Biden, who has less than two months left in office, said in a social media post Wednesday morning that his administration would work in the coming days with Israel and other regional partners to “achieve a ceasefire.” -fire in Gaza with the (Israelis). ) the release of the hostages and the end of the war without Hamas in power.”
The ceasefire that the United States and France helped secure to end fighting between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel appeared to largely hold Wednesday hours after it took effect. There was, however, an unverified claim by the head of the National Union of Lebanese Journalists that Israeli forces in or near the southern town of Khiam opened fire “on a group of journalists and correspondents,” apparently leaving two people — one with the Associated Press. and one with the Russian agency Sputnik — with unspecified injuries.
The Lebanese National News Agency quoted union leader Joseph Al-Qasifi as calling it “the first violation of the ceasefire.”
CBS News has requested comment from The Associated Press and the Israel Defense Forces on the alleged incident.
The war in Lebanon simmered for months after Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel in support of its ideological ally Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel, triggering the war in Gaza. That attack saw Hamas and its allied militants kill some 1,200 people in Israel and take another 250 hostage.
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The near-constant volleys of rockets and missiles across the Israeli-Lebanese border intensified significantly in September, and Lebanese officials said about 3,800 people had been killed by the time the truce took effect Wednesday morning. Israeli authorities say Hezbollah rocket fire has killed 45 civilians over the past year and at least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed during operations in southern Lebanon.
But the agreement between Israel and Hezbollah does not address the war in Gaza, which is at the heart of tensions in the Middle East. Health officials in the decimated, Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory say the Israeli military attack in Gaza has killed more than 44,280 people and injured some 104,000 others. Most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes, with many forced to flee repeatedly over the past year.
“Just as the Lebanese people deserve a future of security and prosperity, so do the people of Gaza. They, too, deserve an end to the fighting and displacement,” Mr. Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “The people of Gaza have been through hell. »
Hamas on Wednesday indicated its openness to new negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, with a senior member of the group telling the French news agency AFP that it had “informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar and in Turkey that Hamas was ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious agreement. agreement to exchange prisoners.
Reuters news agency quoted Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri as saying the group recognized Lebanon’s right to participate in the ceasefire with Israel, to protect its population, and expressed hope that an agreement to end the war in Gaza could also be possible after several months of conflict. largely unsuccessful talks.
Mr. Biden said the United States would work with “Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others” to broker a previously elusive deal between Israel, Hamas and the Egyptian government. announcement On Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi had already met with the visiting Qatari Prime Minister to review “joint efforts aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza, joint efforts to ensure the release of hostages and access unconditional commitment to humanitarian aid and relief to Gaza. Band.”
Earlier on Wednesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan also visited Cairo and met with El-Sissi, discussing both the ceasefire in Lebanon and the latest developments in Gaza, according to Egyptian officials.
But while negotiators renew their efforts on Gaza, they will likely keep a very close, even cautious, eye on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, because there is much more international will behind the ceasefire with Hezbollah only builds trust between long-time enemies.
Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire until moments before the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday. The wait will now be tense to see if peace will last during the 60-day period during which Israeli forces, which crossed the border in early October, slowly withdraw from the former Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon. They are to be replaced by Lebanese soldiers and United Nations peacekeepers in a process overseen by the United States and France.
Over the next two months, Israel must withdraw all its troops from Lebanon and Hezbollah must withdraw its fighters and weapons about 20 miles north of the border, across the Litani River.
But distrust on both sides of the border – the so-called Blue Line established after the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 – runs deep. Mr. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Tuesday that, in the Israeli leader’s words: “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack.”
“For every violation,” Netanyahu threatened, “we will attack with might.”
Speaking on “CBS Mornings” Wednesday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration helped negotiate the truce based on previous successes and failures.
“We have learned from the past,” he said, “and we have designed this agreement to be durable and to remain in force – to continue to maintain the peace and also to ensure the security of the State of Israel. »
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has driven hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians from their homes in the south, and around 60,000 Israelis from their communities near the border in the north.
“It’s not safe to go home,” Israeli Eliyahu Maman said as the truce silenced rocket fire, “because Hezbollah can still harm us.”
Across the border, Beirut resident Rima Abdkhaluk said she did not “believe in this ceasefire… Israel cannot be trusted.”
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But neither the lack of trust nor the warnings from Israeli and Lebanese officials inviting civilians not to return to areas evacuated following the Israeli offensive since October have been enough to dissuade thousands of Lebanese civilians from returning their belongings to their cars and pile up on the highways in an attempt to return home. their homes in the south on Wednesday.
Some two million Palestinians in Gaza hope they too will have the chance to begin rebuilding their shattered lives in the coming weeks. The families of around 100 Israeli hostages still held in the Gaza Strip hope that renewed pressure for a ceasefire with Hamas can also bring their loved ones home.
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contributed to this report.