A 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in Lebanon after more than a year of war, but the final hours before the deadline showed how fragile the agreement was. Attacks from both sides continued until shortly before 04:00 local time, when the truce came into force and temporarily halted the deadliest fighting in Lebanon in decades.
The deal was announced by Israel, France and the United States and was described by President Joe Biden as a move toward a permanent cessation of hostilities. Under the arrangement, Israel was to withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon over 60 days while Hezbollah fighters and weapons were to be pulled back from the area south of the Litani River and replaced by Lebanese government forces. The ceasefire was framed not as an instant peace, but as a managed transition designed to create conditions for longer-term calm.
Even so, the hours before the deadline were chaotic. Israel issued evacuation orders for parts of Beirut four hours before the ceasefire, and Hezbollah fired drones into Israel shortly before fighting stopped. After the ceasefire began, the IDF warned residents of southern Lebanon not to move toward villages it had ordered evacuated or toward its forces in the area. Reuters-reported traffic moving south showed how quickly people tried to return home, even while uncertainty about enforcement remained high.
The BBC said the war had killed more than 3,823 people in Lebanon and displaced about one million residents in areas where Hezbollah held sway. Israeli authorities said Hezbollah attacks on Israel and the occupied Golan Heights had killed at least 75 people, more than half of them civilians, and more than 50 soldiers in southern Lebanon. Those figures show why both governments were willing to accept a pause even as they continued to threaten retaliation if the other side cheated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would attack if Hezbollah tried to rearm or rebuild infrastructure near the border. Biden said Israel retained the right to self-defense consistent with international law. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the ceasefire a fundamental step toward restoring stability but urged Israel to fully comply and leave sites it still occupied. The agreement therefore began under a cloud of conditionality: each side promised restraint, but each also reserved the right to respond.
The ceasefire also had wider regional implications. The BBC reported that U.S. officials hoped the Lebanon deal would create momentum for stalled Gaza negotiations, and Netanyahu said ending the fighting in Lebanon would let Israel focus more on the Iranian threat. Hezbollah's intervention had started after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, linking the Lebanon front to the wider Gaza war. By November 27, 2024, the question was no longer whether the conflict had expanded, but whether diplomacy could reverse that expansion before the 60-day clock ran out.
