Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah is imminent that could halt fighting in Lebanon.

Netanyahu made the announcement on Wednesday morning (AEDT), after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the militia group on its doorstep.

Israel’s security cabinet and full cabinet met and voted to adopt the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

However, Netanyahu warned Israel would attack again if its Iran-backed enemy violated the terms.

“We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory,” Netanyahu said.

“In full co-ordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action.

“Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.”

The breakthrough deal is expected to take effect on Wednesday (local time).

It includes both sides pausing attacks for 60 days and for Hezbollah to pull back its troops near the Israeli border.

The accord clears the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.

Israel’s security cabinet met to vote just hours after Israeli strikes pounded a densely populated part of the Lebanese capital.

Today, I have good news to report from the Middle East.

I have spoken to the Prime Ministers of Lebanon and Israel. And I am pleased to announce:

They have accepted the United States’ proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

— President Biden (@POTUS) November 26, 2024

Netanyahu boasted that Israel had decimated Hezbollah.

“We have set it back decades, eliminated … its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralised thousands of fighters and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.

“We targeted strategic objectives across Lebanon, shaking Beirut to its core.”

He said there were three reasons the time was right for a ceasefire, including to shift Israel’s focus to removing Iran’s nuclear threat.

“The first is to focus on the Iranian threat, enough said. The second is to refresh our forces and rearm our troops. There have been big delays in the supply of arms and this delay is about to stop soon,” he said.

“We will arm ourselves with sophisticated arms to protect our troops and give us greater force to complete our missions.

“The third is to isolate Hamas. Hamas was counting on Hezbollah and once Hezbollah is eliminated, Hamas is left alone. Our pressure on Hamas will grow stronger and help in the sacred mission to bring back our hostages.”

Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of air strikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed.

Strikes in Lebanon began about half an hour after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.

As the strikes continued, Israel’s military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.

A Hezbollah parliament member in Lebanon, Hassan Fadlallah, said the country faced “dangerous, sensitive hours” during the wait for a possible ceasefire announcement.

However, there was no indication that a truce in Lebanon would hasten a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in the devastated Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Palestinian militant group Hamas.

My statement on the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah. pic.twitter.com/ZAxApKpJIT

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 26, 2024

The Lebanon ceasefire agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon’s army to deploy in the region, officials say.

Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the US could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.

Israel demands effective United Nations enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show “zero tolerance” toward any infraction, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.

In early September, Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment and sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire.

More than 3760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials.

The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes.

Israel says it has killed more than 2000 Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah fire has forced about 50,000 Israelis to flee homes in the country’s north and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv.

At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians.

More than 50 Israeli soldiers died fighting in the ground offensive in Lebanon.

-with DPA and AP