Far-right lawmakers, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on Monday cautioned against an emerging ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, saying that security would only be restored to the north of Israel through continued fighting against the Lebanon-based terror group until it is destroyed.
The remarks came as a top US adviser met with Defense Minister Israel Katz to discuss a US-mediated deal that reportedly would see both Israel and Hezbollah pull out of southern Lebanon, with some combination of the Lebanese army and international forces taking over security for the strategic region.
While Katz convened with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy Dan Shapiro, the top Pentagon official responsible for the region, Hezbollah continued to fire drones and rockets at northern Israel, injuring one person. At the same time, Israel hit the terror group’s infrastructure with airstrikes, including areas of Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
The ceasefire talks were one of the issues the two discussed, Katz’s office told The Times of Israel.
Ben Gvir urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject the US-backed proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a post on X, the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party leader warned that accepting the ceasefire deal would mean missing out on a “historic” opportunity to destroy the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Calling it a “grave mistake,” he urged Netanyahu to “listen to the commanders fighting in the field… precisely now, when Hezbollah is beaten and longs for a ceasefire, we must not stop.”
“It’s not too late to stop this agreement,” he said. “We must continue until we reach total victory!”
Ben Gvir has been categorically opposed to any deal that would see a cessation of hostilities, even temporarily, in both Gaza and Lebanon, and has threatened more than once to pull his party from the coalition in the event that Israel signs a truce agreement. But he did not issue a new ultimatum on Monday.
The leader of the extreme-right Noam party, Deputy Minister Avi Maoz, also spoke out against the reported agreement, warning that any deal that does not include Israeli security control of Lebanese territory up to the Litani River, a natural boundary about 20 kilometers from the border, would be “negligence.”
MK Benny Gantz, leader of the opposition National Unity party, tweeted on Monday afternoon that Israel should start “acting powerfully” against assets of the Lebanese state, since the national government “gives a free hand to Hezbollah.”
Earlier in the day, Gantz said that Israel must only agree to a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah if it grants the IDF freedom to act against the terror group should it violate the terms of the agreement.
In an address at the annual Ogen Conference, Gantz, a former defense minister who left the government amid disagreements with Netanyahu about the war in Gaza, said that the residents of northern Israel “must be protected only by the IDF. Not [international observers] UNIFIL, not the Lebanese army, and not a European force.”
“We must not return to the reality of October 6,” he said, referring to the period before the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel, which was followed a day later by the start of near-daily skirmishes with Hezbollah on the northern border. At the time, Hezbollah had already for years openly deployed its forces along the border in violation of a UN resolution it agreed to.
Gantz said that any ceasefire agreement must build upon UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which urged the Lebanese government to dismantle Hezbollah and establish full control over its territory, and Resolution 1701, which called for Hezbollah forces to retreat away from the Israeli border, north of the Litani River.
MK Gilad Kariv of the Labor Party, in contrast, backed the reported deal.
“If we can reach an agreement in Lebanon without ‘total victory’ and the complete destruction of Hezbollah we can do that also in Gaza,” Kariv said, using Netanyahu’s slogan for Israeli policy in the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
The attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza. Of those, 97 remain in captivity.
The following day, Hezbollah began its attacks on the north, forcing tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel to abandon their homes for fear the Shiite terror group would launch a similar invasion.
Israel stepped up its offensive on Hezbollah in Lebanon in late September, launching extensive strikes and operations that took out most of the group’s leadership, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel then launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon with the aim of clearing Hezbollah strongholds in the area and making it safe for evacuated residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
Criticism of the emerging ceasefire deal also came from Avichai Stern, mayor of the northern border town Kiryat Shmona, which has been devastated by Hezbollah rocket fire since last year.
In a statement, Stern labeled the agreement a “surrender.”
He called on Israel’s leaders to “stop and think about the children of Kiryat Shmona. Look them right in the eyes and don’t seal their fate to be the next hostages.”
The Israeli ambassador to Washington said that a ceasefire deal to end fighting could be reached very soon.
Ambassador Mike Herzog told Army Radio that there remained “points to finalize” and that any deal required agreement from the government. But he said “we are close to a deal” and that “it can happen within days.”
Among the issues that remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal.
As talks continued over the ceasefire, there was no letup in Hezbollah attacks and in Israeli airstrikes against the terror group.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it provided medical treatment to a 60-year-old man in northern Israel who suffered a shrapnel wound to the head following a rocket barrage fired from Lebanon at Nahariya.
Sirens were activated in Nahariya and surrounding areas after a 12-hour lull, which in turn was preceded by relentless fire as Hezbollah launched some 250 rockets at northern and central Israel the day before.
The IDF said that the Israeli Air Force intercepted a drone that crossed into Israel from Lebanon. Sirens were activated in communities close to the Lebanon border due to fear of falling shrapnel as a result of the interception.
Footage of the interception was published alongside the statement.
North of the border, Lebanese media reported renewed Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The reports come after the IDF issued an evacuation warning for civilians in the vicinity of three buildings it said would be targeted in strikes on Hezbollah assets. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published maps alongside the announcement on X, which called on civilians to distance themselves at least 500 meters from the sites.
The official National News Agency reported “two consecutive strikes in the vicinity of the Haret Hreik area” in the southern Dahieh suburbs of the capital as AFPTV images showed heavy smoke rising from two locations.
The IDF also called on Lebanese civilians in the southern village of Halta to evacuate north of the Awali River, ahead of pending IDF operations against Hezbollah forces and infrastructure in the area.
Adraee warned on X that they must “evacuate without delay” and reiterated that they must head north, as “any movement toward the south could pose a danger to your life.”
He added that the IDF will inform them when it is safe for them to return home.
In an update, the IDF said that troops from the 91st Division found many weapons and destroyed a number of loaded rocket launchers in southern Lebanon that were ready to fire at the Galilee area.
Over the past day, the air force attacked dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon including command centers, weapons storage sites, and rocket launchers. Some of the launchers that were used for Sunday’s attacks on Haifa Bay and the Sharon region, the IDF said.