Israel and Lebanon have reached a tentative understanding on the terms of the deal ahead of the cabinet meeting, one Western official said. The deal, as it stands, would include a role for France, the official said. Israel, angered by France’s reaction to International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued last week for Israeli leaders, had tried in recent days to exclude the country, the official added.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant and a Hamas leader on Thursday for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The French Foreign Ministry said it would fulfill its legal obligations to the ICC, which include arresting the subject of a warrant if that person enters the country.
A Western diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations said both sides were prepared to approve the deal, but urged caution. “We have already lived moments where a deal was close before major escalatory steps were taken.”
Here are other key developments
- Human Rights Watch said Monday that an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon that killed three journalists last month was carried out with a U.S. bomb-guidance kit in what was “most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime.” The Oct. 25 strike occurred without warning at 3:30 a.m., hitting a residence where the journalists were staying in the southern town of Hasbaya, The Washington Post reported.
- Israel carried out multiple strikes on the southern Lebanese district of Tyre on Monday, killing at least a dozen people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah fired 30 projectiles into Israel on Monday.
- Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy strikes over the weekend. The IDF said Hezbollah fired 250 projectiles into Israel on Sunday, and Lebanese officials reported 29 dead from an Israeli strike in Beirut on Saturday. The IDF said Monday that it struck “several Hezbollah command centers” in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
- At least 44,235 people have been killed in Gaza during the war and 104,638 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 3,768 people have been killed and 15,699 injured in Lebanon, the country’s Health Ministry said. Neither agency distinguishes between civilians and combatants.
- Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, including more than 300 soldiers. It says 378 soldiers have been killed in its military operation in Gaza.
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