Trump says Israel agrees to 10-day Lebanon ceasefire
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Heba Nasser
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Thu, 04/16/2026 - 16:47
US president invites Netanyahu and Aoun to White House for talks
Colleagues of paramedic Mahdi Abu Zaid, who was killed in an Israeli strike, mourn at his funeral in Nabatieh, Lebanon, on 16 April 2026 (Reuters)
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Israel has agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon starting on Thursday at 10pm local time, US President Donald Trump said after speaking to 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 said on his Truth Social network, without mentioning Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago. Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!" he later added.
Before the announcement, Trump had been trying to set up a call between Aoun and Netanyahu, which would mark the highest-level direct talks between Lebanon and Israel for decades.
However, a senior Lebanese official told Middle East Eye that Aoun refused to speak to the Israeli prime minister before a ceasefire was in place.
The developments come two days after the US hosted the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon in Washington, in the first direct talks between the two countries since 1993.
“Lebanon has already taken a step with the meeting in Washington. It will not be drawn into another step that would hand Netanyahu a moral victory he has been unable to achieve on the ground in Lebanon,” the Lebanese official said about Aoun rejecting contact with Netanyahu without a ceasefire in place.
The official added that a phone call between Aoun and Netanyahu would have “major internal implications” and could trigger “an explosion in the country”.
The last southern bridge
Israel has been pummelling Lebanon since US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prompting a cross-border rocket attack by Hezbollah in retaliation on 2 March.
Though Lebanon was ostensibly meant to be included in the ceasefire deal that paused the US-Israeli war on Iran on 8 April, the Israelis maintained their attacks and have been flattening towns and villages across the south.
Tehran has reportedly nonetheless maintained its demand for a ceasefire in Lebanon as it has negotiated with the United States over ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
On Thursday morning, as Israeli media reported that a call between Aoun and Netanyahu was imminent, Israel bombed the Qasmiyeh bridge, severing the last link between southern Lebanon and the rest of the country.
“Enemy aircraft carried out two consecutive strikes on the Qasmiyeh bridge, the last bridge between the Sour and Saida regions, completely destroying it,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
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Last month, the Israeli military said it would target bridges and crossings over the Litani River, effectively isolating large parts of southern Lebanon.
In recent weeks, it has carried out that campaign, destroying or damaging at least nine bridges over the river, which bisects southern Lebanon from east to west.
Israel had already bombed the Qasmiyeh bridge in late March, causing heavy damage, but the Lebanese army partially reopened it to traffic last week.
Lebanese soldiers, who maintain positions near the bridge, had closed the roads leading to it ahead of the latest strike, according to Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today.
A Lebanese security official told Reuters that the strike “shattered” the crossing and left no possibility of repair.
At least 11 people, including women and children, were killed and several others wounded in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon on Thursday. Another person was killed in a strike targeting a car on a road linking Beirut to the Syrian capital Damascus.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,190 people in Lebanon since 2 March, according to government figures.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military killed four Lebanese rescue workers and wounded six others in three back-to-back targeted strikes, Lebanese paramedic groups said.
The successive strikes on the southern village of Mayfadoun targeted three waves of medics: the first responding to a call for help from wounded civilians, a second attempting to assist the wounded responders, and a third rushing to support both teams after they came under attack.
The Israeli army has killed 91 healthcare workers in Lebanon in the past six weeks, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Israel has not targeted Beirut since 8 April, when it massacred more than 350 people by conducting around 100 strikes in 10 minutes across the country.
It has, however, continued deadly strikes in southern Lebanon as troops press ahead with a ground invasion.
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