Israel has agreed to a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah terrorists that would end nearly 14 months of fighting, President Biden announced on Tuesday.

Biden said from the White House Rose Garden that Israel and Lebanon agreed to the deal. Israel retains the right to self-defense if Hezbollah breaks the pact, Biden said.

‘Let’s be clear. Israel did not start this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war, and neither did the United States,” Biden said. “Security for the people of Israel and Lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield. And that is why I have instructed my team to work with the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to broker a ceasefire, to put a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah on the agenda. a closure.”

“This is intended to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden added. “What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed. Well, I emphasize that it will not be allowed to threaten Israel’s security again.”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with IDF commanders in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor to discuss Hamas’ activities. 19/11/2024 (Photo provided by TPS)

In a joint statement with Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, both leaders said the ceasefire would restore calm and allow the residents of both countries to return to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line, the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Biden and “thanked him for the US commitment in reaching the ceasefire in Lebanon and for understanding that Israel retains freedom of action in its enforcement,” his office said.

Netanyahu’s security cabinet met earlier Tuesday, after ministers deliberated for more than three hours on the proposed deal. The Political Security Cabinet has approved the United States’ proposal for a ceasefire in Lebanon, with 10 ministers in favor and one against, Netanyahu’s office said.

At a press conference as deliberations were underway, Netanyahu laid out three reasons in support of the deal: focusing on the Iranian threat; provide an opportunity to refresh the Israeli Defense Forces; and separate Hamas from the northern front.

The conflict in Lebanon began when Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, launched attacks in northern Israel after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Since the back and forth began, Israel has killed many of Hezbollah’s leaders, in addition to deteriorating infrastructure in Lebanon.

By ending the conflict with Hezbollah, Netanyahu said Hamas would stand alone in the Gaza Strip, paving the way for Israeli forces to retrieve the remaining hostages from October 7.

President Joe Biden speaks in the White House Rose Garden, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta))

Netanyahu previously said he would submit the agreement to the cabinet for a vote later Tuesday.

“How long this will last depends on what will happen in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “If Hezbollah does not comply with the agreement, we will attack.”

Under the proposed terms of an initial two-month ceasefire, Hezbollah would have moved its forces north of the Litani River – a major flashpoint that in some places is 30 kilometers from the Israeli border – and the Israeli troops withdraw. also from South Lebanon. Lebanese forces are to be deployed to the border area within 60 days, and a five-nation committee chaired by the US, including France, would monitor compliance with the terms of the deal, Reuters reported.

Around the time the deal was accepted, rocket alarms began sounding throughout Israel on Tuesday evening.

“Israel: We accept your request for a ceasefire. Hezbollah: We are throwing up a barrage of rockets,” Eylon Levy, a former spokesman for Israel, wrote on X.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, supported Israel in a statement but criticized former President Barack Obama and the Biden administration for their handling of the conflict.

“I am deeply troubled by reports that Obama-Biden officials have put enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this ceasefire, and by the way those officials are characterizing Israel’s commitments,” Cruz said. “These pressures and statements are further attempts to undermine Israel and constrain the incoming Trump administration.”

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Among the remaining issues was Israel’s demand to reserve the right to take military action if Hezbollah violated its obligations under the impending deal.

Smoke rises after the Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon, seen from northern Israel on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

“Obama-Biden officials pressured our Israeli allies to accept the ceasefire by withholding weapons they needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening a further, broader, to facilitate a binding international arms embargo through the United Nations,” he added. “Obama-Biden officials are already trying to use Israel’s acceptance of this ceasefire to ensure that Hezbollah and other Iranian terrorist groups remain intact throughout Lebanon, and to limit Israel’s future freedom of action and self-defense.”

Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for containing Israel while fending off attacks from terrorist neighbors.

In addition to the ceasefire, a peacekeeping mission of observers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon will also continue, according to the Israeli news agency Tazpit Press Service (TPS-IL).

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier Tuesday that its ground forces have reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River, long considered a Hezbollah stronghold.

In a statement, the IDF said its forces reached the Wadi Slouqi area in southern Lebanon and “raided Hezbollah strongholds, uncovered and seized hundreds of weapons, dismantled dozens of underground facilities and neutralized scores of rocket launchers ready for immediate use .”

The IDF said the clashes with Hezbollah took place on the eastern side of the Litani, just a few kilometers from the border. It is one of the deepest places that Israeli forces have reached during a ground operation lasting almost two months.

The Israeli military said troops “conducted intelligence-driven attacks based on terrorist infrastructure hidden in the complex terrain.”

Israeli soldiers near the Litani River in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. (IDF spokesperson/TPS-IL)

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“The soldiers raided several terrorist targets, engaged in close combat with terrorists, located and destroyed dozens of launchers, thousands of missiles and weapons storage facilities hidden in the mountainside,” the IDF said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised the deal, saying it would allow Israelis displaced in the north to return to their homes and ensure Israel’s security against Hezbollah.

“As this agreement shows, when terrorists are repulsed both militarily and through dogged diplomacy, the likelihood of peace increases. Hezbollah said they would never give up as long as fighting continued in Gaza, but the current ceasefire agreement should show Hamas that they are as isolated as ever,” Schumer said in a statement. “Now Hamas must release all remaining hostages and reach a negotiated ceasefire. Continuing their failed strategy will only lead to further suffering and SENSELESS bloodshed in Gaza. Hamas must recognize that there is no future without a strong and secure state of Israel. “

“The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah also provides an enforcement mechanism to ensure that Hezbollah remains weakened and allows displaced Lebanese and Israeli citizens to return to their homes,” he added. “I applaud the Biden administration for this agreement and for continuing to work toward ceasefire negotiations and the return of all hostages in Gaza.”

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages from southern Israel to Gaza, marking the start of more than a year of fighting. This escalated in September with massive Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion in the south of the country. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli military bases, towns and villages, including around 250 projectiles on Sunday.

More than 68,000 Israelis have been driven from their homes along the Lebanese border, TPS-IL reports.

A Middle East Airlines plane flies as smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, Beirut on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

An Israeli strike leveled a residential building in Beirut’s central Basta neighborhood on Tuesday – the second time in recent days that warplanes have hit the busy area near the city center.

The Israeli military also warned that another 20 buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled suburbs of Beirut had to be evacuated before they too were hit – a move carried out in the final moments before a ceasefire took effect.

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In a speech on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting in Italy, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday there are “no excuses” for Israel to call a ceasefire with Hezbollah to refuse. falling apart.”

The Times of Israel reported that Defense Minister Israel Katz met on Tuesday with the UN special envoy for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, when he said Jerusalem would have “zero tolerance” for any violation of the ceasefire, and warned that ‘if you don’t’ If we don’t do it, we will do it…and with great force.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.