Conflicting reports on Israel-Lebanon ceasefire negotiations
The diplomatic efforts are advancing and expect a Lebanon-Israel ceasefire soon, sources informed on the negotiations in New York told Lebanon’s MTV on Thursday.
An Arab diplomat meanwhole told LBCI television that “the Israeli envoy (to the U.N.) clearly informed everyone that the operation on Lebanon will not stop and that they have many remarks over the U.S. proposal.”
“The envoys who are communicating with Hezbollah have unclear answers from it, as it is linking the solution to an understanding with Hamas, while Hamas has not agreed to the wording of the proposal,” the diplomat added.
“A meeting will be held soon between officials from the U.S., French, Qatari and Egyptian intelligence to discuss modifying the proposed solution,” the diplomat said.
The U.S., France and other foreign and Arab allies had overnight issued a joint statement calling for “an immediate 21 day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy.”
“The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will enter into effect within hours,” Israel's Channel 13 said.
And as Israeli reports said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the army to lower the intensity of the strikes on Lebanon in connection with the ongoing negotiations, the premier’s office denied that and said Netanyahu was yet to respond to the proposal.
Mediator Qatar meanwhoile said there is no "direct link" between talks for a Gaza truce and an international push for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz -- a hardliner who will head Israel’s security cabinet sessions in the presence of Netanyahu in New York -- for his part wrote on X that “there will be no ceasefire” and that Israel |will continue to fight” against Hezbollah “until victory and the safe return of the residents” to the north.
Source: Naharnet
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