Updates: Israel agrees to Lebanon ceasefire; set to start at 4am

For a feature on displaced Lebanese fleeing violence in Beirut, read this.

Check out our explainer on the fine details of the Israel-Hezbollah truce, here.

US President Joe Biden took centre stage to announce the ceasefire. See what he had to say, here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommended a ceasefire deal with Lebanon’s Hezbollah – later agreed to by the cabinet – saying that if it’s violated and the group attempts to rearm, “we will strike”.
• In Gaza, Israeli forces continued their relentless bombardment campaign, killing scores including at least 13 people in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City’s Zeitoon neighbourhood.
• US President Joe Biden welcomed the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, saying it will come into effect at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
• Israeli forces, meanwhile, intensified devastating air strikes on several areas in Beirut, including its southern suburbs as well as central areas. Hezbollah responded with a series of rocket, drone and missile attacks deep into Israel.
• Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 55 people were killed in the last 24-hour reporting period in Israeli attacks across the country.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will provide some measure of relief to the civilian populations.

He praised the “long overdue” cessation of hostilities and called for the truce to be “turned into a lasting political solution in Lebanon”.

“We must see immediate progress towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the removal of restrictions on desperately needed humanitarian aid,” he said in a post on X.

Starmer vowed to be at the “forefront of efforts to break the ongoing cycle of violence in pursuit of a long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East”.

Hezbollah claims it conducted a drone attack on the Israeli Air Force chief’s residence in Tel Aviv.

“One of the sensitive military targets targeted in the city of Tel Aviv was the residence of the commander of the Israeli air force, Major-General Tomar Bar, with a squadron of qualitative dive drones. The operation achieved its goals precisely,” the Lebanese group said in a statement on Telegram.

It later said it hit “sensitive military targets in the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs”, but didn’t elaborate.

There was no immediate response from Israel’s military.

The United States will coordinate with the Lebanese Army to deter potential violations of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, but there will not be US combat troops in the area, a news report quoted a “senior US official” as saying.

The Reuters news agency said the unnamed official called the truce deal “a game-changer” that would show Hamas fighters in Gaza that the conflict there and in Lebanon were delinked.

The ceasefire agreement, brokered by the US and France, takes effect at 4am Lebanon time (02:00 GMT).

The Israeli army has again threatened to imminently attack several buildings in southern Beirut, telling residents in the vicinity to flee just hours before a ceasefire is set to take effect.

In a post on X, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted a map with several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Ghobeiry and Borj el-Brajneh, which he identified as targets.

He later told people to flee for their lives from Laylaki and Choueifat el-Aamroussieh.

Both sides have intensified cross-border attacks with hours left before a ceasefire takes effect.

US President Joe Biden said his administration is pushing for a so-far elusive ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging war for more than a year.

“The people of Gaza, they too deserve an end of the fighting and displacement. People of Gaza have been through hell,” he said in a televised address. “Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much.”

Biden blamed Hamas for the failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, but many observers suggest Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has stymied the process by adding impossible demands to prolong his fragile political career.

The US president also said it’s possible Saudi Arabia and Israel could normalise ties.

US Central Command says it attacked an “Iran-backed militia” in Syria after US forces were targeted a day earlier.

“We will not tolerate any attacks on our personnel and coalition partners,” General Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, said in a statement.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed a US- and French-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, hailing it as “a ray of hope for the entire region”.

“People on both sides of the border want to live in genuine and lasting security,” Baerbock said in a statement, calling the deal “a success for diplomacy”.

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli troops in northern Israel late on Tuesday after the news of a ceasefire emerged.

In separate statements, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked “a gathering of Israeli enemy forces” across the border in Shtula and Kiryat Shmona, each with “a salvo of rockets”.

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that the central bus station in Kiryat Shmona is on fire after being hit by a Hezbollah rocket.

The truce is expected to take hold at 4am local time (02:00 GMT)

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah will increase Lebanon’s “internal security and stability”.

The announcement was welcome news “first and foremost for the Lebanese and Israeli people affected by the fighting”, Von der Leyen said on X.

“Lebanon will have an opportunity to increase internal security and stability thanks to Hezbollah’s reduced influence.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has welcomed the ceasefire deal, saying it is a “relief in the devastating situation in the Middle East”.

“I want to praise France and the US for their mediation. It is now crucial that the ceasefire holds,” Borrell said.

Borrell called on Lebanese leaders to “take up their political responsibility by electing a president”, saying the Lebanese people are “entitled to regain full sovereignty on the country’s affairs”.

A ceasefire to end hostilities between Israel and Lebanon will protect Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and create the conditions for a “lasting calm”, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint statement.

“The announcement today will cease the fighting in Lebanon, and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations operating from Lebanon,” the two leaders said, adding that the deal “will create the conditions to restore lasting calm”.

The US and France will work “to ensure this arrangement is fully implemented” and lead international efforts for the “capacity-building” of the Lebanese Army, they added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed the truce deal.

A statement came moments after Biden concluded a speech announcing the cessation of hostilities would come into effect at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Mikati earlier urged the international community to “act swiftly” to halt Israeli aggression “and implement an immediate ceasefire”.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu does have ultimate control over the cabinet, which has voted to endorse this agreement, and did so even before finishing its meeting in order to allow for that much-awaited statement by US President Joe Biden to proceed.

Israel has endorsed the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, and as far as the Israeli media is reporting, the Israeli government says the cessation of hostilities will take effect at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

What has happened is an agreement – at least the one on paper between Lebanon and Israel – that pretty much repeats UN Security Council Resolution 1701 – it involves the US and France for further monitoring, but there isn’t anything new here.

There isn’t anything in this agreement that Lebanon didn’t say it was ready to implement from day one of this war.