Israel's cabinet will meet on Tuesday to vote on the proposed ceasefire with Lebanon, an official said

Israel's cabinet will meet on Tuesday to vote on a proposed ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, a senior Israeli official said on Monday, while a Lebanese official said Beirut had been told by Washington that an agreement could be reached “within hours” are announced.

Signs of a diplomatic breakthrough were accompanied by heavy Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, as Israel continued the offensive it launched in September after nearly a year of cross-border hostilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on reports that both Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the text of a deal. But the senior Israeli official told Reuters on Tuesday that the cabinet meeting was aimed at approving the text.

Israeli officials had earlier said an agreement to end the war was getting closer, although some issues remained, while two senior Lebanese officials expressed cautious optimism even as Israel continued to bomb Lebanon and Hezbollah continued rocket fire.

Israel's ambassador to Washington said a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants could be reached “within days.”

Ambassador Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that “items still need to be finalized” and that any deal would require government approval. But he said “we are close to a deal” and “it could happen within days.”

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said Israel would retain the ability to attack southern Lebanon under any agreement. Lebanon has previously objected to formulations that would grant Israel such a right.

The US has pushed for an end to the deal after a year of hostilities between them

'No more serious obstacles'

In Beirut, Lebanon's deputy speaker of parliament, Elias Bou Saab, told Reuters there were “no serious obstacles left” to implementing a US-proposed ceasefire with Israel, “unless Netanyahu changes his mind.”

He said the proposal would involve an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon and regular Lebanese army troops would be deployed within 60 days to the border area, long a Hezbollah stronghold.

A sticking point over who would monitor compliance with the ceasefire had been resolved in the past 24 hours with an agreement to set up a five-nation commission including France and chaired by the United States, he said.

A Western diplomat said another stumbling block was the sequence of Israel's withdrawal, the deployment of the Lebanese army and the return of displaced Lebanese to their homes in southern Lebanon.

Israeli attacks on Beirut continue

In parallel with the diplomatic wave, hostilities have increased: over the weekend, Israel carried out powerful airstrikes, one of which at least 29 people killed in central Beirut as Hezbollah unleashed one of its largest rocket salvos yet on Sunday, firing 250 rockets.

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

Efforts to broker a ceasefire appeared to be making progress last week when US mediator Amos Hochstein declared significant progress during talks in Beirut and then held meetings in Israel.

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

Israel says it had no choice but to launch its ground and air campaign to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes they were forced to evacuate after Hezbollah began crossing the border a day after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 to shoot. attacks on Israel that accelerated the war in Gaza.

Nearly 3,800 Lebanese were killed in Israeli attacks

Lebanon's Health Ministry says Israeli strikes have killed 3,768 people in Lebanon and driven more than a million from their homes. The casualty figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel and the Golan Heights, and during fighting in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

The outgoing US administration of President Joe Biden has emphasized diplomacy to end the conflict in Lebanon, even as all negotiations to stop the parallel war in Gaza have been frozen.

Diplomacy over Lebanon has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

LOOK | An Israeli attack hit the civil defense center northeast of Beirut earlier this month:

At least 12 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the civil defense center in Lebanon, officials say

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 12 people, including eight rescue workers, and injured 27 others after the attack hit a civil defense center in Baalbek, northeast of Beirut, on Thursday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

It requires Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters about 30 km from the Israeli border, behind the Litani River, and the regular Lebanese army to penetrate the border area.

Israel and Hezbollah have both accused each other of failing to implement this in the past; Israel says a new ceasefire should give it the means to attack any Hezbollah fighters or weapons south of the river.

Any deal could expose divisions in Netanyahu's right-wing government. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel must continue the war until “absolute victory.” Addressing Netanyahu on X, he said: “It is not too late to stop this deal!”

But Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel must reach an agreement in Lebanon. “When we say 'no' to Hezbollah south of the Litani, we mean it,” he told reporters.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said last week that the group had reviewed and provided feedback on the US ceasefire proposal, and that any ceasefire was now in Israel's hands.