Israel U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel’s fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon is “holding,” even as the warring parties have continued to launch new attacks on each other regularly in recent days.
“The ceasefire is holding and we are using the mechanisms that have been established to respond to any concerns about suspected or alleged violations of the ceasefire,” Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
Israel and Hezbollah have both accused each other of violating the week-long ceasefire, which is aimed at ending 14 months of fighting that has killed thousands in Lebanon and triggered mass displacement of residents on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border.
“I think fundamentally both sides, Israel and Hezbollah, through the Lebanese government, wanted and continue to want a ceasefire,” Blinken said. “But we have to make sure that the ceasefire is maintained. We are determined to do that.”
A committee chaired by France, the UN peacekeeping force, Israel, Lebanon and the United States is charged with maintaining communication between the parties and ensuring that violations are detected and addressed to avoid escalation.
“The mechanism we have put in place with France to ensure that the ceasefire is effectively monitored and enforced is working, and we want to make sure it continues to work,” Blinken said.
“If there is concern that one side is violating the ceasefire, we will come to us, and we will engage with all parties no matter what. That is exactly what happened,” he added.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, both sides should withdraw from the border area, with the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers maintaining a buffer zone.
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abyad said on Wednesday that Israel’s war with Hezbollah has killed at least 4,047 people and injured more than 16,600.
Abyad said most of the casualties occurred after September 15, and the actual death toll is believed to be higher.
Israel launched a new attack on Lebanon on Wednesday.
On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel. Since then, Hezbollah has engaged in cross-border fighting in support of its ally Hamas for nearly a year. Israel stepped up its crackdown on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon at the end of September. The Hamas-led attack left 1,200 people dead and 250 hostages captured.
There are still about 100 hostages held in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
The Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel says the death toll includes thousands of militants it has killed.
Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States, Britain and other Western countries.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least five people in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said.
The Israeli military also said on Wednesday it had arrested several suspects after Israeli settlers attacked towns in the occupied West Bank.
The IDF said the violence included a settler attack on the village of Beit Furik, where settlers threw rocks and wounded two border police officers.
Since Hamas launched its assault on Israel in October 2023, settler violence has surged in the West Bank, with Israeli forces conducting multiple raids on West Bank villages as part of what the military says is an effort to disrupt militant activity.
U.S. and other officials in recent days have expressed hope that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah could help boost efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
But months of talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar aimed at halting fighting in Gaza have yet to result in a deal between Israel and Hamas.
