Israeli anger at ‘irresponsible and hasty’ ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu presented the ceasefire deal in the context of what he said were Israel’s “unprecedented achievements” over the past year of a seven-front war.

He said Israel had set Hezbollah back “tens of years” and that it was not the same group it had been before.

There was a lot of focus on Israel’s strength in doing what it believed needed to be done – in Gaza, in Lebanon and elsewhere – despite international opposition.

And there was a lot of justification for the ceasefire too – it would allow Israel to “concentrate on the Iranian threat”, Netanyahu said, emphasising that his country would retain full military freedom to counter any new Hezbollah threat.

Israel’s army said on Tuesday it had hit 180 targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Here on the Israeli side of the border, there have been constant warnings of rocket barrages and drone attacks from Lebanon.

Neither side wants this ceasefire deal to be seen as surrender.

But surrender is exactly what Netanyahu is being accused of by his political rivals – and some of his political allies too.

One poll yesterday suggested that more than 80% of Netanyahu’s support base opposed a deal, and many residents in the north of Israel – large numbers of whom have been evacuated from their homes – are angry too.

Shelley, an English teacher in Shlomi, said a ceasefire was an “irresponsible and hasty political decision”.

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, but that the idea of Lebanese residents returning to these villages gave her “a real sense of unease and fright”.

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.”

This war has delivered a lot of military achievements for Israel – Hezbollah is weakened, its arsenals and infrastructure depleted, and its solidarity with Hamas broken.

But Israel’s armed forces are tired, its economy is suffering, and tens of thousands of its residents are displaced.

Still, many here are urging Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war in Lebanon – asking why the prime minister who has vowed to continue fighting in Gaza until “total victory” is signing a ceasefire in the north?