Netanyahu: Ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah must guarantee our security

(Patria) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoys yesterday that any ceasefire agreement with Lebanese Hezbollah must guarantee Israel's security.

Netanyahu said this after seven people were killed in a Hezbollah attack in northern Israel, as stated by Israeli authorities, reports RSE.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that 45 people died in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours, reports the news agency Reuters.

"The main issue is not the paperwork of this or that agreement, but Israel's ability and determination to implement the agreement and thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon," Netanyahu told the two US envoys, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's office.

Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were in Israel in a new attempt to secure a truce in both Lebanon and Gaza.

News agency sources had previously stated that the negotiations were focused on a 60-day pause to allow for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which would entail Hezbollah withdrawing its armed presence south of the Litani River.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on October 30 that US envoy Hochstein indicated during a phone call that a ceasefire was possible before the US presidential election on November 5.

The diplomatic pressure comes amid intensifying fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is running parallel to Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas.

The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia accused Israel of committing a form of "genocide" with its fierce attack on northern Gaza - an accusation it denies, and called on Lebanon to resolve its long-standing political crisis.

The war in Lebanon began at the end of last month, almost a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire on Israel due to its invasion of the Gaza Strip.