Lebanon studying U.S. truce plan for Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese officials were reviewing on Friday a United States (US) truce proposal in the Israel-Hezbollah war as Hamas said it was ready for a ceasefire on Israel’s other front, in Gaza.

Israel has been at war against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon since late September, after a year of relatively low-level cross border exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza.

A top government official in Beirut, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said US Ambassador Lisa Johnson discussed with senior Lebanese officials on Thursday a 13-point proposal.

It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will redeploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.

Ceasefire efforts spearheaded by the US and France have so far failed to halt the hostilities, which Lebanon says have killed more than 3,440 people since October last year.

Israel says it wants tens of thousands of its citizens, displaced since the firing began more than a year ago, back home safely.

On 23 September Israel escalated air strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and one week later sent ground troops in to the country’s south, even as the Gaza war continued, particularly in the north of the Palestinian territory.

A senior Hamas official said Friday the group is “ready for a ceasefire” in Gaza, urging US President-elect Donald Trump to “pressure” Israel.

The appeal came nearly a week after Qatar, which hosts much of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, suspended its mediator role until the warring parties show “willingness and seriousness.”

“Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected” by Israel, Doha-based Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim told Agence France-Presse.

“We call on the US administration and Trump to pressure the Israeli government to end the aggression.”

More Israeli strikes hit Gaza, leaving residents of the central city of Deir el-Balah searching through the rubble of their destroyed homes.

“I woke up to the bombing at 2:30 a.m. and was surprised by the rubble and glass falling on me and my children,” said Mohamed Baraka, adding that the strike “resulted in three martyrs and 15 injuries.”

Another resident, Marzuq Barak, called on “the world to stop the war and genocide that is happening. We are tired.”