Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday evening that Israel would begin negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a full peace agreement between the countries.

The announcement came a day after the Jewish state led the largest and deadliest wave of airstrikes on its northern neighbor since the start of the current round of fighting with the Iran-backed terror group.

Jerusalem and Beirut seemed to be at odds over the conditions under which the talks would take place, with Lebanon demanding a ceasefire first, while Israel insisted that they be held under fire.

“In light of Lebanon’s repeated appeals to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu said in a statement, following heavy international pressure on Israel to engage in diplomacy.

The talks “will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” he said.

In a later video message, Netanyahu hailed the potential for a “historic and sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”

In a message addressed to residents of northern Israel, the premier stressed that “there is no ceasefire in Lebanon,” noting that Israel was “continuing to strike Hezbollah with great force,” and would “not stop until we restore your security.”

“Our significant achievements both in Iran and against the axis of evil have brought about a historic change in Israel’s standing in the region,” he continued. “They have also led to changes in our relations with countries we did not have relations with before.”

Meanwhile, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had spent the previous 24 hours advocating for a temporary ceasefire to allow for broader talks with Israel, saying it would be a “separate track but the same model” as a fragile truce brokered by Pakistan between the US and Iran.

The official said no date or location had been set yet, adding that Lebanon needed the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that “the only solution to the situation Lebanon is facing is a ceasefire with Israel that would lead to direct negotiations between the two countries.”

At a meeting held earlier Thursday with representatives of Lebanon’s Maronite community, Aoun said the Lebanese proposal for a ceasefire and negotiations was beginning to receive positive responses in international circles, adding that Lebanon continued to hold international talks on the matter.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said the jihadist group rejects any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, reiterating “the necessity of upholding national principles, foremost among them the Israeli withdrawal, the cessation of hostilities, and the return of residents to their villages and towns.”

However, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that there would be no ceasefire with the terror group ahead of the talks with Lebanon.

The talks were set to begin “in the coming days,” said the official, without giving any more specifics. According to Axios, the first meeting was expected to take place next week in Washington, DC, at the US State Department.

According to the outlet, US President Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa will lead the American delegation, while Lebanon’s Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh-Moawad will lead the Lebanese side.

Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter will lead the Israeli delegation, a second Israeli official told The Times of Israel.

According to Hebrew media reports, former minister Ron Dermer — who had been Netanyahu’s preferred envoy for high-stakes talks before stepping down in November — was not set to lead the negotiations, at least for now, because of fundamental disagreements with top officials. Dermer had returned to handle some files for Netanyahu in recent weeks, including Lebanon, but had advocated for including the fight against Hezbollah in the ceasefire with Iran, which Netanyahu firmly opposed.

The Kan public broadcaster cited an unnamed source in Israel’s security cabinet as contending that Lebanon would be required to fire Hezbollah’s government ministers as a trust-building step. The report said Jerusalem believes a deal can be reached before the upcoming Knesset elections, currently slated for October.

In his first statement on the matter Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel “appreciates the call made today by Lebanon’s prime minister to demilitarize Beirut.”

Lebanon’s cabinet had earlier instructed security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, a move that falls short of full demilitarization of the capital.

“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolize weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said at the end of a cabinet meeting.

The Lebanese government banned Hezbollah’s military activities at the beginning of March, shortly after the start of the current war with Israel, but the decision has not stopped the terror group from conducting military operations and firing thousands of rockets at Israel.

Also on Thursday, Salam asked his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, to confirm Lebanon’s inclusion in the Iran war ceasefire. Iran and mediator Pakistan had earlier asserted that the truce also applied to Lebanon, but the US and Israel said it did not. Jerusalem said it would continue its attacks on Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the regional war on March 2.

In a statement, Salam’s office said he phoned Sharif, praising Islamabad’s efforts in securing the truce and asking him to “confirm that the ceasefire includes Lebanon to prevent a recurrence of the Israeli attacks witnessed yesterday.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed Thursday that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon violated the two-week ceasefire agreement and would render US-Iran negotiations for a wider deal “meaningless.”

The ongoing strikes against Hezbollah “signal deception and non-compliance,” he wrote in a post on X. “Our hands remain on the trigger. Iran will never forsake its Lebanese brothers and sisters.”

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also said Lebanon was a key part of the truce, warning that violations would bring severe consequences.

This coincided with mounting international condemnations of Israel’s intensified strikes, as well as calls for Lebanon to be encompassed in the truce. Lebanon said Israel’s massive strikes on Wednesday killed over 300 people, without differentiating between civilians and combatants, while Israel said it killed more than 200 Hezbollah members.

NBC News reported that Trump had asked Netanyahu to scale back the strikes on Lebanon to prevent the collapse of the fragile ceasefire with Iran.

The request came during a Wednesday phone call, shortly after Netanyahu publicly vowed to continue striking Lebanon, the American outlet said, citing a senior Trump official.

Trump confirmed the report later in a phone interview with NBC, saying he told Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s bombing of Lebanon in order to preserve the fragile ceasefire with Iran.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump said.

US Vice President JD Vance claimed Wednesday that Israel had agreed to “check itself” with regard to Lebanon in order to help the negotiations with Iran, even as the expanded bombing campaign offered no indication that Jerusalem had agreed to show restraint.

On Thursday — the day after Trump made his request — the Israeli Air Force continued bombing Lebanon, albeit at a lower intensity than the day prior.

Channel 12 reported Thursday evening that US officials had been stunned by the scale of Israel’s Wednesday strikes, which hit hospitals and caused heavy civilian casualties, with senior American officials saying the outcome was not what Trump had in mind when he told Netanyahu that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire deal with Iran.

The report said US special envoy Steve Witkoff called Netanyahu on Wednesday to urge him to scale down operations in Lebanon, before asking Trump to reinforce the message in a follow-up call. The pressure was said to have helped push Israel to agree to the diplomatic talks with Lebanon.

According to the network, the American push is driven by concern that continued fighting in Lebanon could torpedo ongoing negotiations with Iran, with Tehran already threatening to skip planned talks in Pakistan on Saturday in light of Wednesday’s strikes.

According to the report, there is a growing belief that Washington will ultimately steer Israel toward confronting Hezbollah through economic and diplomatic means, rather than sustained military escalation.

Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 Report: Hungary offered Iran intel on Hezbollah pager attack by Israel

2 Ben Gurion Airport fully reopening as Israel lifts flight restrictions after ceasefire

3 AnalysisNetanyahu left with vague promises after another war ends without a decisive win

4 TranscriptYair Lapid: ‘Netanyahu led us into a strategic debacle,’ sold lies to the Americans

5 Trump claims Iran won’t enrich uranium, will give up uranium, while US lifts sanctions

6 Iran-linked hackers leak photos of ex-IDF chief Halevi’s work and family life

7 Trump threatens to renew war if Iran doesn’t comply with ‘real agreement’

8 Netanyahu says ‘finger on trigger’ to resume war any time; opposition accuses him of strategic debacle

Israel-Lebanon relations

2026 Israel-Hezbollah conflict

© The Times of Israel