Lebanon cease-fire within reach: Official

(China Daily/ANN) -- The United Nations Security Council and senior officials have doubled down on their calls for a cease-fire amid reports that a deal could be within reach in Lebanon.

A fireball erupts at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Tayouneh in Beirut’s southern suburbs in Lebanon on Monday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The appeals came on Monday during a briefing to the 15-member Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, just days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders and after the US veto of a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Elias Bou Saab, the deputy parliament speaker of Lebanon, told Reuters there were “no serious obstacles “left in the Washington-proposed cease-fire with Israel, “unless (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu changes his mind”.
According to the report, the proposal would entail Israeli military withdrawal from south Lebanon and regular Lebanese army troops deploying in the border region within 60 days.
Netanyahu was expected to convene a high-level security cabinet in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to approve a 60-day cease-fire after more than a year of fighting, the Times of Israel reported, adding that Israel was accepting a cessation of hostilities but “not an end to the war on Hezbollah”.
However, in Gaza, there is still little hope of a cease-fire and the situation there is getting worse.
In his briefing on Monday, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Muhannad Hadi said developments across Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, suggested “we are at imminent risk” of losing the frameworks operating since 1967 and 1973 when the Security Council adopted the resolutions aimed at laying the foundations for a just and lasting peace.
If the forces seeking to undermine the two-state solution are successful, he said, the collapse of the relevant principles and institutional structures “will have a ripple effect that could spread far beyond the Middle East”.
“We need a cease-fire; we need to get the hostages out, we need lifesaving support to be delivered safely now, and we need to ensure the long-term safety and security of Palestinians and Israelis,” Hadi said.
At a news briefing the same day, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said 1.6 million people are now living in makeshift shelters across Gaza and blamed “severe restrictions” that have been challenging for aid agencies to prepare for the rainy season.
The UN said about 100 flood-prone areas were hosting 450,000 men, women and children in Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and Rafah.
In Italy, at the outreach session of the second G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, attended by several Arab leaders, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also pushed for an immediate cease-fire, the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid, and progress on the two-state solution.

(Latest Update November 28, 2024)