Donald Trump announces Israel-Lebanon 10-day ceasefire as US pushes lasting Middle East peace deal

Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to begin a temporary ceasefire as diplomatic efforts intensify to de-escalate the widening conflict in the Middle East.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST.”

Mr Trump said that he had “directed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio” to work with the countries toward achieving “a Lasting PEACE,” adding that he had invited Aoun and Netanyahu to take part in peace talks at the White House.

The US President said he envisages peace “will happen quickly” and it will be his “10th war solved”.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the ceasefire in a post on X, saying it had been a key objective for Lebanon in talks this week.

In a video statement, Mr Netanyahu confirmed he had agreed to a temporary ceasefire but made clear Israel would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, a central demand of Hezbollah.

“We are remaining in Lebanon in an expanded security zone,” he said, adding that this was necessary due to the “danger of an invasion” and to prevent fire into Israel.

It remains unclear when those displaced by the conflict will be able to return to their homes. The Lebanese Army has warned civilians not to go back to southern villages and to avoid “approaching areas where Israeli occupation forces have advanced.”

According to the US State Department, the ceasefire agreement commits Israel and Lebanon to “engaging in good-faith direct negotiations, facilitated by the United States, with the objective of achieving a comprehensive agreement that ensures lasting security, stability, and peace between the two countries.”

The statement says the initial 10-day ceasefire period “may be extended by mutual agreement between Lebanon and Israel if progress is demonstrated in the negotiations and as Lebanon effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty.”

Lebanon must also “take meaningful steps” to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out attacks on Israel, while Israel “shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defence, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”

Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party in Lebanon, has not been part of the talks, NBC News reported.

Mr Trump’s announcement comes after Iran insisted that strikes on Lebanon must stop as part of any longer-term agreement with the United States and Israel.

A ceasefire in Lebanon “is as important as a ceasefire in Iran,” Tehran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Thursday morning, adding: “In the Islamabad negotiations and afterwards, we have been seriously pursuing efforts to compel the adversaries to establish a permanent ceasefire in all areas of conflict.”

Israeli forces have continued strikes across Lebanon, as well as advancing ground operations in the country’s south, even after the temporary ceasefire deal in the Iran war that took effect last week. The US and Israel have denied that the agreement covers Lebanon, while Iran has pointed to comments from mediator Pakistan suggesting that it does.

Hostilities in Lebanon escalated last month after Hezbollah militants launched rockets at Israel following the US and Israeli military campaign in Iran. Israel responded with widespread strikes across Lebanon, vowing to establish a sweeping “security zone” along the country’s southern border.

The ceasefire proposal follows direct negotiations between Lebanese and Israeli representatives in Washington earlier this week, marking the first in-person talks between the two countries in decades.

More than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began, according to Lebanese authorities, with more than one million displaced from their homes.

In Israel, 21 people have been killed since the outbreak of the Iran war, including casualties linked to strikes from both Iran and Hezbollah.