New Hezbollah chief says open to truce with Israel if offer is made

Hezbollah's new leader on Wednesday said the beleaguered Lebanese movement could agree to a ceasefire under certain terms, as Israeli forces expand their bombardment of the group's bastions.

Naim Qassem's statement came as Israel's security cabinet met to discuss a possible truce, but also as Israel attacked the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek and said it had killed another senior Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon's premier Najib Mikati said he was "cautiously optimistic" about a ceasefire in "the coming hours or days".

Speaking to broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Mikati said US envoy Amos Hochstein had suggested "that perhaps we could reach a ceasefire in the coming days, before the fifth" of November, when the US election takes place.

Qassem became leader of the Iran-backed armed movement on Tuesday, following the assassination of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in a massive air strike last month.

In his first speech since taking over, he said Hezbollah could continue to resist Israeli air and ground attacks in Lebanon for months.

But he also opened the door to a negotiated truce, if presented with an Israeli offer.

"If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable," he said.

Qassem however added that Hezbollah had not yet received a credible proposition.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the country's security cabinet was meeting to discuss what terms it might offer to secure a truce.

"There are discussions, I think it will still take time," Cohen, a former intelligence minister, told Israeli public radio.

According to Israel's Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met ministers late Tuesday to discuss Israel's demands in return for a 60-day truce.

These include that Hezbollah withdraw north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier, and that the Lebanese state's army deploy along the border.

- 'Act forcefully ' -

An international intervention mechanism would be established to enforce the truce, but Israel would demand a guarantee that it maintain freedom of action in case of threats.

The US State Department said President Joe Biden's Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and Hochstein were headed to Israel Wednesday to seek progress on deals to end both the Gaza and Lebanon wars.

They "are travelling to Israel to engage on issues including a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon, as well as how we get to an end to the conflict in Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

On the ground, explosions rocked Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek shortly after Israel's military warned residents it would "act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages".

Lebanon's health ministry said at least 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two areas in the Baalbek region.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah "command and control centres and terrorist infrastructure" in areas of Baalbek and Nabatiyeh.

Separately, Lebanon's health ministry said 11 people were killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes on the town of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had fired rockets and drones at three military positions in northern Israel, including near Haifa and Acre.

It later said it fired rockets at a military training camp southeast of Tel Aviv.

The war in Lebanon began late last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The war has killed at least 1,754 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, although the real number is likely to be higher.

Israel's military says it has lost 37 soldiers in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

- Short term truce? -

In Gaza, there were more deadly strikes Wednesday as international mediators prepared to propose a short-term truce to free hostages and avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

News of a potential breakthrough in truce talks came a day after an Israeli strike on a single Gaza residential block killed nearly 100 people and triggered international revulsion.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying to negotiate a truce for months.

Israel's Mossad spy chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani held their latest round of secretive talks on Sunday and Monday in Doha.

On Wednesday, a source close to the talks told AFP on condition of anonymity that the senior officials discussed proposing a "short-term" truce of "less than a month".

The proposal would include the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and an increase in aid to Gaza.

"US officials believe that if a short-term deal can be reached, it could lead to a more permanent agreement," the source said.

A Hamas official said the group would discuss any ideas for a Gaza ceasefire that included an Israeli withdrawal, but had not officially received any comprehensive proposals.

However, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops to continue exerting pressure "in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages".

Tuesday's strike in the northern Gaza district of Beit Lahia collapsed a building and left at least 93 dead, including many children, according to the territory's civil defence agency.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was "deeply shocked" by the strike, his spokesman said.

US State Department spokesman Miller meanwhile said Israel was "not doing enough to get us the answers that we have requested" over the strike.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel's response has led to the deaths of 43,163 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, figures which the United Nations consider reliable.