Israeli government approves ceasefire agreement. Ceasefire to begin in Gaza Sunday morning, hostages to be released in the afternoon.

The Israeli military’s pursuit of 'total victory' in Gaza and Lebanon will instead guaran­tee the survival of Hamas and Hezbollah.

After 14 months of talks, Trump’s threats and his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, played a major role in helping Biden officials reach the finish line.

Lebanon's Hezbollah is trying "to regain strength and rearm with the assistance of Iran," Israel's U.N. ambassador told the Security Council on Monday, declaring that the militants remain a "serious threat" to Israel and regional stability.

Lebanon's new president said on Saturday that Israel must withdraw from his country's south by the January 26 deadline set to fully implement an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreed last year.His remarks follow a speech by Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem who accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations,

Naim Qassem, the Hezbollah leader, called 'on the Lebanese state to be firm in confronting violations, now numbering more than hundreds'

Much has changed in the 15 months since Hamas slipped into Israel and carried out the Oct. 7 atrocities. And much has not.

With the fall of Assad in December, the election of Aoun and Salam in Lebanon marks the second dramatic political shift in Israel’s neighborhood dynamics in less than two months.

Hezbollah has threatened to resume fighting if Israel does not fully withdraw its forces by the 60-day deadline.

These groups are organic and homegrown, unlike the Islamic State or Al Qaeda, which have relied heavily on fighters from abroad. Hamas and Hezbollah will replenish their ranks with locals.

The Lebanese presidency noted that discussions focused on developments. Aoun reiterated Lebanon’s insistence on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from its occupied territories in the south, as stipulated in the agreement reached Nov. 27.