Israel Agrees to Ceasefire With Hezbollah After Lebanon Strikes Kill at Least 47

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire Friday after intensified fighting in Lebanon threatened the implementation of a U.S.-Iran framework, with President Donald Trump telling NBC News in a phone call that he asked Israel to agree to a ceasefire and calling it “It’s a positive.”

NBC News reported that an official Hezbollah source said the group would abide by the ceasefire but that “the Israelis are still firing and trying to move deeper into Lebanese territory,” even as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said Israel was “firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” and had halted offensive operations.

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The intensified strikes came days after an interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed, stipulating that all fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, must end immediately, and NBC News said U.S. spy agencies believed Israel would likely continue attacks on Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

In Lebanon, Israel said it targeted Hezbollah across the south of the country overnight and early Friday, while the country’s health ministry reported Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people since midnight.

The Guardian said the ceasefire renewal followed 24 hours of intense violence that killed at least 47 people and came as a meeting in Switzerland between Washington and Tehran was cancelled after Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley.

As the ceasefire was announced, the BBC reported that Israel’s military confirmed a ceasefire was in effect but later said its forces would “continue to remove immediate threats,” while Hezbollah had not yet confirmed the ceasefire.

The BBC also quoted Hezbollah secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem saying: “The project to eliminate Hezbollah has failed,” and it reported that rescue officials in the city of Nabatieh told the BBC there had been at least 12 air strikes since the ceasefire began at 16:00 local time.

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In a separate account, the Guardian said an Israeli official told Reuters late on Friday, “If Hezbollah does not attack us, then for us it is not a time of war,” while it also reported that Netanyahu’s office said Israel would “exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks.”

The Hill highlighted the far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s statement on X that “all of Lebanon must burn,” framing it as a response to the deaths of Israeli soldiers killed in fighting overnight.

The BBC further reported that in response to the flare-up, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of wanting “permanent war” and insisted that any breach of the memorandum of understanding “will be attributed to the US.”

The ceasefire and the cancelled Switzerland talks were tied to the U.S.-Iran negotiations, with NBC News saying the planned talks in Switzerland were temporarily postponed following the deadly Israeli attacks and that the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed early Friday that the planned talks would not take place.

The Guardian said the MoU called for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and described the 60-day window to negotiate a permanent understanding over Iran’s nuclear programme while getting oil traffic moving through the strait of Hormuz.

DW reported that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Marco Rubio that a comprehensive ceasefire must be secured for talks with Israel to progress, and it quoted Aoun’s emphasis on “the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire.”

The BBC said direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel would resume in Washington next week aimed at securing a “lasting peace,” and it reported that Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli air strikes killed 47 people including women and children and wounded 97 others.

Looking beyond the immediate truce, Anadolu Ajansı said Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon since March 2 has killed 3,912 people, injured 11,873 others and displaced more than one million residents, while it reported that Israel continues to occupy areas in southern Lebanon.