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Israel and Lebanon are in talks through mediators to extend the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah by 30 days when it expires on Sunday, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The truce, which took effect in late November, halted the worst round of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group in almost two decades, with Israel invading southern Lebanon in a devastating offensive after months of cross-border fire between the two sides.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Hizbollah was required to withdraw above the Litani river, which runs up to 30km north of the border with Israel, while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were to withdraw from southern Lebanon over a period of 60 days and be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
However, while the truce has continued to hold, the IDF remain in multiple locations in southern Lebanon even with that period almost over.
Israeli officials say this is because some Hizbollah militants remain south of the Litani, and the LAF, which was supposed to deploy to southern Lebanon as the IDF withdrew to prevent Hizbollah returning, has not moved in fast enough.
Lebanese officials say the presence of the Israeli forces is preventing the LAF — who since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria have increased their numbers along the Syrian border — from properly deploying in the south.
Lebanon’s government has also alleged that Israel has violated the ceasefire hundreds of times, including through continued air and drone strikes and demolitions that have killed at least 37 people, according to a Financial Times tally. Israel has previously said its strikes were in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier this week, Hizbollah threatened “to react” if Israel did not withdraw by Sunday, later condemning reports of a possible extension.
In light of the delay, officials said discussions were under way to extend the truce beyond the 60-day mark.
Two people familiar with the situation said the plan was to extend the truce for 30 days, after which time it would be reviewed again in light of the LAF’s deployment. During that 30-day period, Israeli forces would remain on high ground in five locations in Lebanon, one person said.
Mike Herzog, Israel’s outgoing ambassador to Washington, told Israel Army Radio on Thursday that Israel was “in conversations with the Trump administration in order to extend the necessary time to allow the Lebanese army to deploy and fulfil its purpose according to the deal”.
“This means dismantling Hizbollah infrastructure in the area and we’re in the midst of these discussions,” he said, adding that the 60-day period “isn’t written in stone”.
During a visit to southern Lebanon last week, UN secretary-general António Guterres said his peacekeeping forces had found more than 100 Hizbollah weapons caches.
Tensions have risen between the LAF and Hizbollah over what to do with those weapons. Hizbollah, which does not see the ceasefire as mandating its disarmament across Lebanon at large, is insisting its weapons should be moved above the Litani, while Hizbollah’s opponents want them destroyed.
The fighting between Israeli forces and Hizbollah began in late 2023 after the Lebanese militant group fired rockets towards Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the days after the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel.
After a year of exchanges of fire confined largely to a thin band of land either side of the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated border between the two countries, Israel dramatically escalated hostilities, launching a ferocious bombing campaign before invading in October last year.
The fighting killed more than 3,700 Lebanese and more than 140 Israelis, and forced more than 1mn Lebanese and about 60,000 Israelis from their homes. It also left broad swaths of Lebanon’s south and east in ruins.
It also dealt a series of devastating blows to Hizbollah, killing its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and damaging its infrastructure and weapons stockpiles.
