Israel and Hezbollah Agree to Ceasefire as Fighting Continues in South Lebanon

An American official and an Israeli official said Friday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire due to take effect at 4:00 p.m. The announcement came even as IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said there was no change in instructions and Israeli forces would continue operating in southern Lebanon, adding, “There is no change in the instructions,” and later, “The forces in the field have full freedom of action, the strikes continue.”

Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, sirens sounded on the northern border over fears of an incoming hostile aircraft from Hezbollah. The IDF said Hezbollah had repeatedly violated the understanding, and after a deadly overnight incident in which four soldiers were killed, launched extensive strikes that destroyed more than 80 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, including command posts, launch positions, and other terror infrastructure around Nabatieh and elsewhere.

The fatal overnight attack occurred near the village of Tebnine, where a suspected projectile hit a tank from Battalion 52, operating under the Givati Brigade combat team. The army said the circumstances are still being examined and have not yet been definitively attributed to a drone explosive. Killed in the incident were battalion commander Lt. Col. Dor Gdalya ben Shimhon and three soldiers with him. In a separate incident overnight, a reserve officer was seriously wounded by a drone explosive, and four NCOs, three reservists and one career soldier, were lightly wounded.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of the fallen and called Hezbollah’s attack “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.” He said he ordered the IDF to respond forcefully, declaring, “Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory.” He said dozens of terror targets had been struck and dozens of militants killed, with attacks expanded to Hezbollah headquarters in the Bekaa, and that Israel would continue holding the security zone in southern Lebanon as long as needed to protect northern communities. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF would keep holding the security belt from the coast to the Beaufort, while ministers, lawmakers, and commentators urged a harsher campaign and rejected any compromise.