US, allies call for immediate 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah

The US, France and other allies jointly called on Wednesday for an immediate 21-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.
The countries calling for a halt to the Israel-Hizbollah conflict are the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The joint statement, negotiated on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, says the recent fighting is “intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”
“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy,” the statement said. “We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately.”
Israeli hardliners reject ceasefire proposal
However, hardline partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition on Thursday rejected proposals from the United States and France that would see a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon to allow time for a diplomatic solution to be reached.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads one of two nationalist-religious factions in the coalition, said Hizbollah should be crushed and that only its surrender would make it possible for the evacuees to return.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right faction was due to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday but members of the party have already come out against the proposal.
Earlier, representatives for Israel and Lebanon reiterated their support for a UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed group.
The US hopes the new deal could lead to longer-term stability along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Months of Israeli and Hizbollah exchanges of fire have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes, and escalated attacks over the past week have rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.
The US officials said Hizbollah would not be a signatory to the ceasefire but believed the Lebanese government would coordinate its acceptance with the group. They said they expected Israel to “welcome” the proposal and perhaps formally accept it when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the General Assembly on Friday.
Restarting Gaza truce talks
While the deal applies only to the Israel-Lebanon border, the US officials said they were looking to use a three-week pause in fighting to restart stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, another Iranian-backed group, after nearly a year of war in Gaza.
Blinken first raised the proposal with the French foreign minister on Monday and then broadened his outreach that evening at a dinner with the foreign ministers of all the Group of Seven industrialised democracies.
During a meeting on Wednesday morning with Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers, Blinken approached Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan to ask their approval and got it. Blinken and senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein then met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who signed off on the deal.
Sullivan, Hochstein and senior adviser Brett McGurk were also in touch with Israeli officials about the proposal, one of the US officials said. McGurk and Hochstein have been the White House’s chief interlocutors with Israel and Lebanon since the Oct.7 attack on Israel by Hamas launched the war in Gaza.
Green light, with conditions
The officials said the deal crystallised by late Wednesday afternoon during a conversation on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Blinken expects to meet Netanyahu’s top strategic adviser in New York on Thursday ahead of the prime minister’s arrival.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu has given the green light to pursue a possible deal, but only if it includes the return of Israeli civilians to their homes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing behind-the-scenes diplomacy.