World leaders again tout hope of Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire

Israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed 31 people across Lebanon.

Israel's military said in statement they had struck approximately 25 Hezbollah "terror targets" in Nabatiyeh, Baalbek, the Bekaa Valley and southern Beirut.

The National News Agency (NNA), Lebanon's state-run media organization, added on Monday evening that "enemy warplanes launched strikes on (the) Haret Hreik and Shiyah" districts.

Lebanon's health ministry, while reporting the number of deceased on Monday, said most of the casualties came in the south with four people killed in the east.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah increased the number of rockets fired across the border into Israel.

Several governments on Monday suggested that a cease-fire between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group was edging closer to being agreed.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a daily briefing on Monday: "We believe we've reached this point where we're close."

"We're not there yet. We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction, but again nothing is done until everything is done, nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated," he said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said there had been more momentum than in previous days.

"We are currently discussing with our partners from the Gulf States and the Arab world how we can, in this situation, at least perhaps resolve one of the major challenges, the situation in Lebanon, and finally achieve a cease-fire," she said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani made similar comments after the meeting of G7 foreign ministers, describing himself as "optimistic" for a deal.

France's Elysee Palace said "significant progress" had been made in talks on a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The French presidency urged both sides to seize "this opportunity as soon as possible." 

"Discussions on a cease-fire along the Blue Line have made significant progress," Emmanuel Macron's office said. "We hope that the relevant parties will seize this opportunity as soon as possible."

According to Israeli media, the Cabinet was set to meet on Tuesday to discuss a new potential cease-fire deal with Hezbollah. 

Lebanese government officials in Beirut expressed optimism, but said the final decision rested with Israel.

It's not the first time such a deal has been reported as close in recent months, with the progress being hailed by the foreign governments trying to help broker it, but in past instances a deal did not emerge.

The Israeli government has told its agencies not to communicate with or advertise within the independent Haaretz newspaper following its criticism of the war in Gaza.

Anat Saragusti, chair of the Union of Journalists  in Israel, told DW that the steps against Haaretz were just a "chapter" in a larger "masterplan to silence independent media."

On the question as to whether she agreed with Haaretz's deputy editor that the Israeli government was trying to silence independent media by boycotting the publication, Saragusti said:

“Yes, I totally agree with that. I think the Israeli government drafted a masterplan to silence independent media in Israel and to weaken the press freedom in Israel and the sanctions on Haaretz is only one chapter of this masterplan.”

"They also passed a resolution within the government to divest money and actually to destroy the public broadcaster in Israel. This was also decided yesterday by the same government. So these are two steps, part of this masterplan," Saragusti said.

Israel's ambassador to the US, Mike Herzog, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday a cease-fire deal between Israel  and Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah  could be reached "within days."

According to Herzog, there are still "points to finalize." He said any deal requires the government’s agreement, but that "we are close to a deal" that can be sealed "within days."

The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah is a Shiite political party in Lebanon as well as a militant organization. It is supported by Iran.

Both wings are deemed a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, whereas the EU lists only its armed wing as a terror group.  

The United Arab Emirates said Monday police arrested three Uzbek nationals for the killing of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi, with the country's Interior Ministry offering no motive for the slaying of Zvi Kogan.

Israeli authorities say the motive for the killing was that Kogan was Jewish.

Kogan, 28, was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday. He ran a kosher store in the city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords. 

fmt/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)