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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks from the Rose Garden Tuesday afternoon, but details are unclear what he will discuss.
He may be planning to address the Middle East peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his Cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah – a breakthrough in the long-running violence.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, in support of the Palestinian militant group. That has set off more than a year of fighting that escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and an Israeli ground invasion of the country’s south.
More than 3,760 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 has agreed a ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported on Tuesday, clearing the way for an end to a conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, held a press conference discussing the cease-fire deal.
Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israeli military bases, cities and towns, including some 250 projectiles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker a ceasefire agreement in which Hamas would release its remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for an end to the war. Those talks fizzled out over the summer.
Protests and counterprotests over U.S. military support for Israel roiled U.S. college campuses in the spring, and the support caused division among Democratic voters this election.
Arrest warrants were issued on Thursday by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister, and Hamas officials – accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Netanyahu on Thursday condemned the arrest warrant from the ICC against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.” In a statement released by his office, he added: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”
RELATED: Arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Hamas officials issued by International Criminal Court
Overall, Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic.
U.S. President Joe Biden also criticized the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also blasted the request.
Meanwhile, human rights groups have applauded the recent decision.
“The ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement.
This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press contributed.