Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire that would come into effect at 4:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT) this Friday, a senior US official confirmed to Reuters, after a night of strong escalation in Lebanon. “Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said, adding that negotiators from the United States and Qatar closed the deal with the help of Iran. However, the Israeli Army has not confirmed this truce. “As long as we do not receive other instructions, we will continue to act with the current ones,” said its spokesperson at a press conference. The violence had tested the provisional pact between Washington and Tehran signed on Wednesday. A Hezbollah deputy had warned Reuters that Iran demanded a comprehensive ceasefire to continue negotiations. Overnight, Israeli strikes killed at least 18 people in Lebanon, while four Israeli soldiers were killed in one of Hezbollah’s deadliest attacks in this war. In parallel, Donald Trump has assured that it was Iran that sought rapprochement with Washington. “They are finished! They will not receive any money, not even ten cents!” he wrote in Truth Social.
