BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Hezbollah’s new leader on Wednesday said the beleaguered Lebanese movement could agree to a ceasefire under certain terms, as Israeli forces expand their bombardment of the group’s bastions.

Naim Qassem’s statement came as Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss a possible truce, but also as Israel attacked the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek and said it had killed another senior Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon’s premier Najib Mikati said he was “cautiously optimistic” about a ceasefire in “the coming hours or days.”

Speaking to broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Mikati said United States envoy Amos Hochstein had suggested “that perhaps we could reach a ceasefire in the coming days, before the fifth” of November, when the US election takes place.

Qassem became leader of the Iran-backed armed movement on Tuesday, following the assassination of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in a massive air strike last month.

In his first speech since taking over, he said Hezbollah could continue to resist Israeli air and ground attacks in Lebanon for months.

But he also opened the door to a negotiated truce, if presented with an Israeli offer. “If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable,” he said.

Qassem, however, added that Hezbollah had not yet received a credible proposition.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the country’s security cabinet was meeting to discuss what terms it might offer to secure a truce.

“There are discussions, I think it will still take time,” Cohen, a former intelligence minister, told Israeli public radio.

According to Israel’s Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met ministers late Tuesday to discuss Israel’s demands in return for a 60-day truce.

These include that Hezbollah withdraw north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the Israeli frontier, and that the Lebanese state’s army deploy along the border.