Israel and Lebanon entered into a 10-day ceasefire on April 16.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the brief pause of violence would begin on the evening of April 16 after conversations with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on April 16.
The announcement came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the rare talks between the countries in Washington on April 14—the first time leaders from the neighboring countries met in-person in the U.S. Capitol in 34 years.
Trump ordered Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine to work with Israel on a deal that would achieve “lasting peace.”
“It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let's, GET IT DONE!” Trump said in his post.
The president, who was pushing for “breathing room” amid parallel efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement to the Iran war, suggested that he hopes to host the two leaders at the White House in the coming weeks.
The U.S. State Department said in an April 16 statement that both countries recognized “the significant challenges faced by the Lebanese state from non-state armed groups, which undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty and threaten regional stability.”
“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,” the statement reads.
The ceasefire announcement was welcomed by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who said his country has been pursuing it since the war began on March 2.
The conflict started when Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, launched rockets and drones toward northern Israel just days after it started striking Iran with the United States in Operation Epic Fury, which killed dozens of senior Iranian leaders.
“As I congratulate all Lebanese on this achievement, I pray for the martyrs who fell, and affirm my solidarity with their families, with the wounded, and with the citizens who were forced to flee their cities and villages, and I hold full hope that they will be able to return to them as soon as possible,” Salam said.
Trump in a Truth Social post called on the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah to cease its attacks against Israel amid the temporary ceasefire.
“I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time. It will be [a] GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE,” he wrote.
Nearly 2,200 people have died, and more than 7,100 have been injured since Israel started striking the country in early March, according to numbers released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on April 16.
More than 172 of the fatalities and 650 of the injuries are children, the ministry’s report states.
Aoun spoke with Trump on April 16 and thanked him for his efforts as he wished for “lasting peace and stability” in the region.
Israel maintained that the strikes are to target Hezbollah.
Netanyahu said that since the conflict with Lebanon started in early March, the Israel Defense Forces have “eliminated the massive arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles” that they suspected were going to be used against cities in Israel.
“This balance has shifted to such an extent that over the past month, we began receiving calls from Lebanon to hold direct peace talks between us,” Netanyahu said on April 16. “This is something that hasn’t happened in over 40 years.”
Netanyahu said that in order to have peace, Hezbollah must be disarmed in Lebanon.
The Israeli leader alleged that Hezbollah had two conditions: Israel withdrawing from Lebanese territory and a ceasefire based on the “quiet for quiet” model.
“I agreed to neither of these, and indeed, those two conditions are not being met,” Netanyahu said.
Israel will remain in Lebanon’s security buffer zone that is approximately six miles deep from its border.
“That is where we are, and we are not leaving,” Netanyahu said.
Senior Israeli officials told Epoch Magazine Israel that the ceasefire would follow the same framework as the ceasefire with Hezbollah from November 2024. Specifically, Israeli forces will remain on the lines they have reached in Lebanon and will not withdraw while retaining the right to self-defense against Hezbollah attacks and to thwart emerging threats.
On April 16, an Israeli strike severed the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, a senior Lebanese security official told Reuters, saying that the strike “shattered” the bridge and left no possibility of repairing it.
In the 24 hours leading up to the ceasefire on April 16, the IDF continued to strike Hezbollah terror organization targets in Lebanon “in order to support the operations of ground forces operating in southern Lebanon.”
The report states that Hezbollah is a partner force of the Iranian regime, helping Tehran “project power across the region, train allied militias (reportedly including Hamas), threatening U.S. interests and allies across the region.”
It also states that Hezbollah has used Israel’s presence in the Shebaa Farms and other disputed areas in the Lebanon–Syria–Israel tri-border region to justify ongoing violence against Israel.
Another round of in-person peace talks between the United States and the Iranian regime is being considered after discussions led by Vance, alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, with an Iranian delegation failed to move forward in Islamabad.