PM said meeting on Lebanon diplomatic solution; Hezbollah has lost 80% of its rockets
Defense minister says Lebanese terror group no longer organized enough to fire large volleys at Israel; eight UNIFIL soldiers lightly wounded by Hezbollah rocket fire in Naqoura
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a security consultation on Tuesday evening to discuss a possible diplomatic solution to the fighting in Lebanon, Hebrew media outlets reported, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assessed that Hezbollah retains only some 20 percent of the rocket and missile capabilities that it had before the war.
The reports came as the military announced that an IDF reservist seriously wounded during fighting in southern Lebanon last week succumbed to his wounds.
Master Sgt. (res.) Yedidia Bloch, 31, of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade’s 7155th Battalion, from Mevo Horon, was seriously wounded in battle on October 24.
Bloch had been seriously wounded in the same incident in which Sgt. First Class Gai Ben-Haroosh was killed.
Netanyahu was holding a high-level security consultation on whether to advance terms for ending the conflict with Hezbollah or to expand the ongoing ground operation in southern Lebanon, Channel 12 reported.
The report said that a team headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer had drawn up proposed terms under which to end the conflict, and was recommending that Israel should try to do so, capitalizing on its military achievements against Hezbollah in recent weeks.
Along with Netanyahu and Dermer, the other participants the meeting were reportedly Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. The TV report said Halevi strongly recommends seeking a negotiated end to the fighting, and that there is a belief that it is currently possible to advance to a deal in Lebanon in a process separate from the ongoing conflict with Gaza.
The report said that the Dermer team’s recommendations, which were drawn up with input from the security establishment and the Foreign Ministry, include:
- An improved version of UN Resolution 1701 (under which the 2006 Lebanon War was brought to an end), requiring Hezbollah fighters to withdraw north of the Litani River.
- Heavy deployment of the Lebanese Army at the border.
- An international oversight and enforcement mechanism of the agreed terms
- Guaranteed freedom of operation for the IDF if there are “threats that need to be removed.”
- The prevention of Hezbollah rearming in the future.
- A 60-day ceasefire during which the agreement would be finalized.
The report said it was not clear whether Netanyahu would choose to adopt the proposal from Dermer, one of his most trusted loyalists. Netanyahu reportedly held a prior consultation with several ministers, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, during which Gallant was not present.
If Netanyahu does decide to advance the proposal, this would have implications for Iran and Gaza, the report said without elaboration, and it was likely that the US point man on Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, would return to the region very soon — ahead of the US election next week.
Earlier on Tuesday, senior Israel officials told Ynet that there had been progress on an agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a limited ground operation against Hezbollah assets and operatives in villages close to the Israel-Lebanon border.
The sources also said that the deal, under discussion with international mediators, would see a 60-day “adaptation period” during which the sides would cease fire and work toward implementing UN Resolution 1701.
20% of rockets left
Visiting the IDF Northern Command base in Safed on Tuesday, Gallant appeared to back up the estimation that Israel is close to achieving its goals on the northern front, assessing that Hezbollah was operating at a significantly reduced capacity in comparison to its capabilities one year ago.
“I estimate the remaining capacity of the missiles and rockets to be in the order of 20%, and also it is not organized in the way that it used to be organized, in a way that [Hezbollah] could fire [large] volleys,” he said.
“There is a deep connection between our strike in Iran and what is happening to Hezbollah,” he said, referring to Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iranian military bases over the weekend in response to Tehran’s massive ballistic missile attack on October 1.
“Iran understands that Hezbollah does not have the ability to respond, and Hezbollah understands that it cannot rely on Iran,” Gallant added.
Despite the achievement of destroying much of Hezbollah’s rockets, Gallant’s estimate could indicate that the terror group still has tens of thousands of rockets. Estimates before the war put their rocket and missile stockpile at some 150,000 projectiles.
Commander surrenders
Amid the reports that Israel is close to completing the goals of its ground operation in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Tuesday evening that the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab was captured by troops of the Golani Brigade some two weeks ago.
According to the military, Golani troops, with prior intelligence, located a tunnel shaft in a Hezbollah command center in Ayta ash-Shab, where several operatives were holed up.
Among them was the commander of the Hezbollah forces in the village, Hassan Aqil Jawad.
The operatives surrendered to the troops, and they were detained and questioned by field interrogators of the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504.
The military releases footage showing Jawad and the other operatives surrendering to the troops.
The IDF says the operatives were later brought to Israel for further interrogation.
“In the interrogation of the terrorists, they detailed many terror infrastructures that are located in the area of Ayta ash-Shab. These findings helped the forces on the ground to locate and destroy the terror infrastructure in a targeted manner and to prepare for threats in the area,” the IDF said.
It added that several more Hezbollah operatives were detained and questioned during operations in southern Lebanon in recent weeks.
Tanks advancing north
Meanwhile, Lebanese state media said on Tuesday that Israeli tanks had rolled into the outskirts of the village Khiam, their deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon since the start of the ground operation last month.
The country’s official National News Agency reported the entry of “a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army” into the eastern outskirts of Khiam, some six kilometers (nearly four miles) from the border with Israel.
Hezbollah, for its part, claimed that it had targeted Israeli troops south and southwest of the village with rocket and artillery fire.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF.
The large town of Khiam holds symbolic significance, as it was home to a notorious prison run by the South Lebanon Army during Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, which lasted from 1982-2000.
UNIFIL soldiers injured in Hezbollah rocket strike
Elsewhere in Lebanon, Austria’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that eight Austrian soldiers belonging to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) sustained slight and superficial injuries in a rocket strike on the force’s headquarters in Naqoura.
The strike, which set a vehicle workshop on fire, was likely launched by Hezbollah “or an affiliated group,” UNIFIL said.
“We remind Hezbollah and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property, the UN body said in a statement on the incident. “Any deliberate attack on them is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Resolution 1701.”
The peacekeeping force said it had opened an investigation into the rocket fire.
The IDF later confirmed that the Naqoura base was indeed hit by a Hezbollah rocket.
According to the military, the rocket was launched by the terror group from the Hallousiyyeh al-Faouqa area, in the Tyre District.
“The Hezbollah terror group continues to systematically violate international law, and poses a threat to the residents of the State of Israel and international forces in the region,” the IDF said.
Earlier today, a report was received regarding damage caused to UNIFIL’s Headquarters in the area of Naqoura, southern Lebanon. An examination determined that Hezbollah launched a rocket from the Hallousiyyeh El Faouqa area which hit the @UNIFIL_ Headquarters.
UNIFIL reported a… pic.twitter.com/OhE6VpkuUI
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 29, 2024
The Austrian defense ministry condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms” and demanded an immediate investigation.
Austria contributes about 180 soldiers to the 10,000-strong force. They are part of a “Multi Role Logistic Unit” that performs roles like transporting goods and personnel, repairing vehicles, supplying fuel and firefighting.
UNIFIL has accused the IDF of injuring its forces on several occasions, while Israel has called for peacekeepers to withdraw from the battle zones until Israel’s ground campaign against Hezbollah is over, saying that the proximity of Hezbollah posts to UN peacekeepers and members of the Lebanese army has led to several accidental strikes on the latter two groups.
Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8, 2023, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 32 civilians. In addition, 61 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.
Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel amid the fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September.