Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib revealed that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had agreed to a U.S.- and French-proposed 21-day ceasefire with Israel, just before he was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The ceasefire, aimed at de-escalating tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border and in Gaza, was reportedly accepted by both Nasrallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to U.S. and French mediators.
“They told us that Mr. Netanyahu agreed on this, and so we also got the agreement of Hezbollah on that. And, you know what happened since then,” Habib told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
The ceasefire proposal was part of a joint statement released on September 25 by the U.S., France, and several other nations, calling for a temporary truce to pursue a diplomatic solution. However, upon arriving at the UN General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu rejected the ceasefire rumors, despite U.S. officials expressing frustration with his decision. On the same day, Israel announced another $8.7 billion in military aid from Washington, with no real pressure from the U.S. to push for peace.
Just days later, on September 27, Netanyahu, from his hotel in New York, ordered the airstrike that killed Nasrallah, reportedly because the Hezbollah leader would not agree to a diplomatic solution without a ceasefire in Gaza.
