A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to take effect at midnight Thursday-Friday after being declared hours earlier by US President Donald Trump, who also announced that he was inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President for peace talks at the White House.

Both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks on Thursday until right before the truce went into force, with rockets fired by the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group resulting in serious wounds to a 17-year-old girl and 25-year-old motorcyclist in Karmiel, while a Nahariya man in his 40s was moderately injured by another impact.

The IDF issued a statement minutes before midnight saying it struck over 380 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past day, including Hezbollah operatives, command centers, and several rocket launchers used in attacks on Israel, while stressing it remained “on high alert and will act in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”

Trump made the ceasefire announcement in a Truth Social post shortly after wrapping up a phone call with Netanyahu, during which he coaxed the Israeli premier to agree to the truce. The news caught Israel’s security cabinet off-guard, as no meeting was held to approve the decision beforehand.

The development was seen as a victory for the Lebanese government, which had agreed to hold direct talks with Israel earlier this week for the first time in decades, with the aim of securing such a ceasefire. Jerusalem had resisted a truce, convinced that further military action was needed to degrade Hezbollah, which has been firing at Israel.

Washington however became amenable to a diplomatic off-ramp as it appeared Israel’s military approach to curbing Hezbollah could only go so far, with previous declarations by Netanyahu that Israel inflicted generational damage upon the Shiite organization not seeming to ultimately pan out.

More critically, the US came to believe that a ceasefire in Lebanon would bolster its efforts to extend a nascent truce with Iran, a Middle Eastern diplomat familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel.

"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House… Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!" – President Donald J. Trump ???????? https://t.co/zMspAjw3PD pic.twitter.com/KFipIMmFOD Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_1', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_1', } ]); }); } — The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 16, 2026

"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House… Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!" – President Donald J. Trump ???????? https://t.co/zMspAjw3PD pic.twitter.com/KFipIMmFOD

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 16, 2026

Iran has asserted that Lebanon was supposed to be covered by the two-week ceasefire inked with the US on April 7 and that continued Israeli strikes on Hezbollah would risk upending the truce altogether.

The US and Israel maintained that Lebanon was not in fact included in the truce and have insisted on separating the two fronts in order to ensure that the government in Beirut has agency over developments in the country, rather than the Islamic Republic.

Accordingly, the US facilitated a historic meeting between Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington on Tuesday and has stated the ceasefire announced on Thursday was a result of that effort.

Iran though argued the truce was its doing, given it ultimately came just nine days after its own deal with the US, effectively connecting the two ceasefires.

“The ceasefire was nothing but a result of Hezbollah’s steadfastness and the unity of the Axis of Resistance,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator and parliament speaker, wrote in a statement on X. “We are true to our word.”

For his part, Netanyahu sought to frame the development as a victory for Israel by highlighting the peace talks with Lebanon that were being launched as a result of the truce. He also noted that Israel was not required to withdraw its troops from Lebanon as part of the truce and would be maintaining a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah fire on Israeli towns across the border.

It was unclear whether that would be enough to fend off the criticism Netanyahu faced from across the Israeli political spectrum, with the continued rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel in the lead-up to the ceasefire showing the threat posed by Hezbollah remained.

While Trump’s ceasefire announcement on Thursday caught some off guard, it had been brewing for over a week.

Netanyahu had been bucking Lebanese overtures to hold direct talks for over a month before abruptly announcing on Friday they would take place three days later in Washington.

That decision reportedly came after Netanyahu reached the conclusion following a call with Trump that the US president would unilaterally announce a ceasefire if he did not agree to direct talks with Beirut.

The day after the direct talks were held at the State Department, Netanyahu convened the security cabinet to discuss a ceasefire in Lebanon, with the US hoping that the premier would convince his ministers to back a truce, the Middle Eastern diplomat said.

That meeting ended without a decision. Later Wednesday night, Trump phoned Netanyahu and got him to consent in principle to a ceasefire, according to a White House official, though the premier’s decision to agree was apparently not conveyed to the security cabinet.

Trump then announced on Truth Social that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon would hold a historic phone call on Thursday. But Lebanese President Joseph Aoun balked at the idea, insisting Israel first agree to a ceasefire.

The White House official said shortly after that, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Aoun, cajoling the Lebanese leader to agree to Israel’s terms for a ceasefire, which apparently included allowing the IDF to maintain a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

On Thursday morning, Trump spoke separately with Aoun and Netanyahu to finalize the agreement, which was then announced by the US president on social media. “These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 p.m. EST.” (12 a.m. Thursday-Friday Israel time).”

Trump added that he directed US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine to “work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a Lasting PEACE.”

Minutes later, Trump published a separate Truth Social post saying he will invite Netanyahu and Aoun to the White House “for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983.”

“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!” Trump wrote.

He later told reporters that the White House summit would take place within the next week or two. It will be Netanyahu’s seventh meeting with Trump since the latter returned to office. No other world leader has met the US president as many times.

The 1983 talks between Israel and Lebanon referenced by Trump were focused on an Israeli withdrawal following the 1982 First Lebanon War, though the agreement reached by the sides ultimately fell through.

Before Israeli and Lebanese envoys met in the US earlier this week, laying the groundwork for the ceasefire announcement, the last time senior officials from the two countries met in-person was in 1993, as part of the Madrid Peace Conference, which sought to bring together Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Truce allows Israel to act in self-defense, bars ‘offensive’ ops

As Trump was working the phones on Wednesday and Thursday, the State Department huddled with Lebanese and Israeli officials to craft a memorandum of understanding for the ceasefire, the White House official said.

The text of the 10-day ceasefire agreement allows the IDF to carry out strikes against “planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks,” but bars “offensive” operations against any Lebanese target.

“Israel shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks. This shall not be impeded by the cessation of hostilities,” reads the text of the agreement released on Thursday by the US State Department, which says the document was approved by Israel and Lebanon.

“Besides this, [Israel] will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military and other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon by land, air and sea,” the agreement says.

The agreement says the initial 10-day ceasefire can be extended by mutual agreement if progress is made during subsequent negotiations between the sides and “as Lebanon effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty.”

The text also states Lebanon will take “meaningful steps” to prevent Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups from carrying out attacks on Israel once the 10-day truce is in place.

Israel and Lebanon have requested that the US facilitate further direct talks between their countries “with the objective of resolving all remaining issues, including demarcation of the international land boundary, with a view to concluding a comprehensive agreement that ensures lasting security, stability and peace between the two countries,” the text states.

The memorandum of understanding also says that the sides “will work to create conditions conducive to lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border, while preserving Israel’s inherent right to self-defense.”

“Israel and Lebanon affirm that the two countries are not at war and commit 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 document says.

Lebanon called to talk peace and Netanyahu says he answered

In a video statement released as domestic pushback mounted, Netanyahu insisted Israel has a “historic” opportunity to reach a peace agreement with Lebanon as a result of his government’s policies.

“We have an opportunity to reach a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.

He said the opening came after Israel “changed the balance of power in Lebanon,” pointing to past operations such as the 2024 pager attack that targeted hundreds of Hezbollah operatives, the erosion of the terrorist group’s rocket and missile arsenal, as well as the killing of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

He added that in the past month, Israel received calls from Lebanon to hold direct talks “for the first time in over 40 years.”

“I answered that call,” Netanyahu said, without noting he previously ignored it.

He said Israel agreed to a “temporary 10-day ceasefire” to try to move negotiations forward, but stressed that the country’s core demands remain unchanged: “The disarmament of Hezbollah” and “a sustainable peace – peace through strength.”

He said he rejected Hezbollah’s conditions for a ceasefire — “that Israel withdraw from all Lebanese territory up to the international border” and “a ceasefire in the format of ‘quiet for quiet’” — but that it agreed to a truce anyway. He emphasized Israeli forces will remain in Lebanon.

“We are remaining in Lebanon in an expanded security zone… 10 kilometers wide, much stronger, more powerful, more continuous, and more solid than what we had before,” he said, adding the deployment is meant to “block the threat of infiltration” and prevent anti-tank fire on northern communities.

Netanyahu acknowledged Hezbollah retains some capabilities, saying, “There are still rockets that they have left. We will also need to address that as part of progress toward a security agreement and a lasting peace agreement.”

He also said that after speaking with Trump over the past two days, the American president is “strongly determined to continue both the naval blockade [on Iran] and efforts to dismantle what remains of Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” adding that joint steps could “remove this threat once and for all” and “fundamentally change our security and diplomatic situation for years to come.”

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