We have a bit more detail on how this ceasefire deal could play out, thanks to information from a senior US official.

Here's what we know:

• The plan sets out a "phased withdrawal" of Israeli troops from Lebanon over the course of the next 60 days
• The Lebanese military will help patrol the area around the Blue Line as the Israeli military moves south and Hezbollah moves north
• The United States and France will join the existing Tripartite mechanism - which currently includes the Lebanese military, the Israeli military and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) - to help enforce the agreement in this area
• All complaints of potential violations of the ceasefire agreement will be directed to the United States
• There won't be any US troops on the ground in Lebanon, but US and French forces will support the Lebanese military through training and helping with communications
• The US, France and other countries will also provide technical and financial support to the Lebanese military via a Military Technical Committee, or MTC
• The plan calls for the international community to support economic and infrastructure growth in southern Lebanon in an effort to establish conditions that can lead to a "durable ceasefire"

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

I've been talking to Vardit, who lives in the town of Nahariya in northern Israel.

She says she hopes a ceasefire will stop the regular Hezbollah rocket attacks from Lebanon.

“We have rockets from Hezbollah every day and a few times a day,” she says.

On MondayIsrael said 250 rockets were fired by Hezbollah into Israel.

"I’m afraid to go the bathroom or take a shower in case the rockets land when I’m in there,” Vardit says.

“When there is a rocket attack I go to the bomb shelter, when the attacks happen when I’m driving I stop the car and find somewhere to take cover.

“I hope that with a ceasefire my life can go back to normal, and the 60,000 Israelis evacuated from the north will be able to return to their homes.”

Hezbollah says it launched drones towards Israel on Tuesday night, shortly before a ceasefire was due to come into effect.

The IDF confirms it intercepted several drones targeting the country.

"In response to the targeting of the capital Beirut and the massacres committed by the Israeli enemy against civilians," Hezbollah launched "drones at a group of sensitive military targets in the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs," the Iran-backed group says, according to the AFP news agency.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he hopes the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon "can put an end to the violence, destruction and suffering".

Guterres "urges the parties to fully respect and swiftly implement all of their commitments made under this agreement," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric adds.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert also welcomes the deal, saying it "marks the starting point of a critical process ... to restore the safety and security that civilians on both sides of the Blue Line deserve".

But "considerable work lies ahead", she cautions, requiring "nothing less than.. full and unwavering commitment".

With just hours to go until the ceasefire is due to go into effect, the IDF has issued evacuation orders for areas of Beirut.

The IDF's Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, writes on X, external that residents of two small areas of Beirut should evacuate "immediately and stay at a distance of no less than 500m [1,640ft]".

"You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future," Adraee tells residents.

The post was published just after midnight local time (22:00 GMT), some four hours before the ceasefire is due to go into effect.

Image source, EPA

Tuesday marked a historic moment in the conflict in the Middle East, as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was agreed. Here's how the day unfolded:

• When the day began, we knew that Israel's security cabinet was due to discuss the ceasefire deal in the evening
• In the leadup to the security cabinet meeting, Israel waged an intense campaign of strikes across Beirut, which killed at least seven people.
• There was also fire towards Israel from Lebanon - the IDF says 10 missiles and a number of drones were fired into the country's north
• In the afternoon, members of the G7 issued a joint statement calling for parties to agree to a deal immediately
• Following that security cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a statement announcing that the ceasefire was being approved
• US President Joe Biden then spoke from the White House hailing the agreement as a pathway to wider peace

Reaction is continuing to come in to this ceasefire agreement. We will be bringing the key voices and plenty of analysis right here, so stick with us.

Image source, Reuters

While many are welcoming this ceasefire deal, there has been some hesitation from residents of southern Lebanon.

Displaced from her village in southern Lebanon, Alia, a mother of twin girls, said she hoped for a ceasefire so she could go back home with her family, but was sceptical about the ceasefire being honoured.

"God willing, they [Israel] are credible and honest about a ceasefire... God willing we will get back to our homes and land," she told the Reuters news agency.

Twelve-year-old Assil, who has also taken refuge in Beirut, says his move is permanent, but he hopes he can visit his old village soon.

"Many things over there mean a lot to me, like my family, many people that I miss and that are far away from me – I haven’t seen them for a long time, and when we got displaced I didn't seen them at all."

Ahmad, who has been staying at a shelter for displaced people in Beirut, says he is hopeful people will begin to return to their homes in the south soon.

"This ceasefire will take place, God willing, tomorrow... so people can return to their villages and hometowns."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says three projectiles crossed from Lebanon into Israel earlier, after Netanyahu addressed his country about the ceasefire deal.

In a post on Telegram, the IDF said that sirens sounded in the Western and Central Galilee areas and Shtula.

They say after this, three projectiles were intercepted by their air force.

Image source, PA Media

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed the UK will be "at the forefront of efforts to break the ongoing cycle of violence in pursuit of a long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East".

Starmer calls this ceasefire agreement "long overdue" and hopes it will be turned into a "lasting political solution in Lebanon".

He says the ceasefire will be "some measure of relief" to civilians in Lebanon and Israel's north, who have "suffered unimaginable consequences" during the months of conflict.

"Now, this deal must be turned into a lasting political solution in Lebanon, based on Security Council Resolution 1701, that will allow civilians to return permanently to their homes and for communities on both sides of the border to rebuild," he says.

He adds that there must be "immediate progress towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the release of all hostages and the removal of restrictions on desperately needed humanitarian aid".

Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

Many residents in the north of Israel - large numbers of whom have been evacuated from their homes - are angry about this ceasefire deal.

Shelly, an English teacher in Shlomi says a ceasefire was “irresponsible and hasty political decision” after Netanyahu's announcement.

Rona Valency, evacuated from kibbutz Kfar Giladi on 8 October last year, told me she wanted to go home, and that a ceasefire was needed.

From Kfar Giladi there are clear views of the Lebanese village of Odaisseh just across the valley.

“The only thing I can hope for is that Hezbollah will not infiltrate these villages and build a new network,” Rona told me.

“Apart from completely erasing these villages, and having no people there, there is no real physical thing that can make me feel safe. It’s just, you know, hope.”

Her husband, Onn, said the key to security lay, not in the terms of the ceasefire agreement, but in people “understand[ing] again, where we live; understand[ing] some things that a lot of us forgot”.

He said he didn’t trust the Lebanese army, nor the Americans, to restore security along the border.

“I trust only our army,” he said. “I think if the army won’t be there, it will be very, very hard to get the citizens back.”

Read more: Israeli anger at 'irresponsible and hasty' ceasefire

Image source, Reuters

While the US has long been encouraging this ceasefire deal, so too has France, which has historic links to Lebanon.

French president Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement with US President Joe Biden after the announcement of the deal, committing both nations to working with Israel and Lebanon to ensure the agreement is fully implemented and enforced.

"We remain determined to prevent this conflict from becoming another cycle of violence," the statement reads, and adds that they will also commit to support efforts to rebuild the Lebanese Armed Forces and support Lebanon's economic development.

Rowan Bridge
Reporting from Washington DC

Image source, Reuters

We’ve just been shuffled out of the Rose Garden after Biden’s address.

It’s an announcement he and the Americans have been pushing, cajoling and pressuring for for months. Now they finally have a deal.

For a president in the waning weeks of his term in office this is a foreign policy triumph, one that he can celebrate and promote rather than listening to the whispering behind the scenes in some Democratic circles about whether he cost the party the 2024 election by not withdrawing sooner.

The hope from the administration is this can be a catalyst to resolving the conflict in Gaza.

They believe it will de-escalate tensions in the region and put Hamas under pressure. President Biden closed by saying that ‘peace is possible’.

With just under two months left in office, he says the US will continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza too.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed the ceasefire agreement during a phone call with US President Joe Biden.

A statement from Mikati said he had reviewed the terms of the deal this evening and that he sees it as a "fundamental step towards restoring calm and stability in Lebanon and enabling displaced persons to return to their towns and cities".

It also contributes to establishing regional stability, the statement says.

"While I value the joint efforts of the United States and France in reaching this understanding, I reaffirm the government’s commitment to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, enhancing the presence of the Lebanese Army in the South, and cooperating with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil)," he says.

Mikati then calls on the international community to "fulfil their responsibilities in this regard".

For context, Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, but while it was accepted, was never fully implemented.

Idea of ending cycle of Israel-Hezbollah violence incredibly optimisticpublished at 21:06 Greenwich Mean Time 26 November 2024

21:06 GMT 26 November 2024

Gary O'Donoghue
Reporting from Washington

This agreement is a significant achievement for Joe Biden.

He has been pressing the diplomatic buttons for a few weeks ever since the ground invasion into southern Lebanon in September, working hard with his envoys - and they have got something to show for it.

Now, whether it will last is a different matter. What this promise to Israel, that it will be able to defend herself if it feels threatened, what that will do to the stability to any agreement like this - these are all huge questions that will unfold not just over the next 60 days, but the next 60 weeks and 60 months.

This idea that ending this cycle of violence between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is incredibly optimistic because this conflict has been going on for decades.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from the White House

Here in the Rose Garden at the White House, the president wrapped up what were fairly brief remarks by saying "peace is possible". It's something his administration has been pushing for since the war in Gaza broke out more than a year ago.

To a shouted question on a possible Gaza ceasefire, we could hear president Biden say he's hoping for one.

Biden concludes by stating that today's ceasefire announcement is a crucial step towards achieving peace and prosperity in the Middle East.

He applauds the decision made by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence.

"It reminds us that peace is possible," he says.

Biden turns to Gaza now, saying people there "deserve an end to the fighting and displacement".

"People of Gaza have been through hell," and they have suffered "too much", he adds.

Hamas has a choice to make, he adds, saying the "only way out" is to release the hostages taken from Israel last year.

He says in the coming days the US will make another push to "achieve a ceasefire in Gaza."

This brings them closer to a vision of a future in the Middle East of peace, he says.

The US remains prepared to do "historic deals" for establishing a Palestinian state and a normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

"I believe this agenda remains possible," the US president says, and adds that he will spend the remaining days in office working "tirelessly" towards this.

Biden says that this team has collaborated with Israel and Lebanon to establish a ceasefire, which will bring the conflict to a close, effective from 02:00 GMT (04:00 local time) early Wednesday.

He states that over the next 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces.

People in both Lebanon and Israel will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin rebuilding their lives, Biden says.

He adds that if Hezbollah breaks the agreement, Israel has the right to self-defence in accordance with international law.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from the White House

President Biden, speaking from the Rose Garden, opened by saying Lebanon and Israel have agreed to the ceasefire deal that the US helped to broker.

When it takes effect, Biden said: "The fighting will end. Will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.”

He reiterated that civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities.

The US, with France and allies, has pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to make sure it’s “fully” implemented, he said. He also made sure to emphasize that no US troops would be involved.

On Gaza, he said the people there also deserve an end to fighting.

"The people of Gaza have been through hell. Their world has been shattered."

Biden said his administration will continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza too.

Biden says now: "Let's be clear, Israel did not launch this war, Lebanese people did not seek that war either, nor did the United States".

He adds that he has been directing assets to flow into the region, "to defend Israel and to deter our common enemy at a critical moment."

Since the war began, more than 70,000 Israelis have been forced to live as refugees, Biden says, as they watch their communities "destroyed".

He adds over 300,000 Lebanese people have also been forced to become refugees.

"This has been the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in decades."