INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States , France and other allies jointly called Wednesday for an immediate 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations in the
escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.The joint statement,
negotiated on the sidelines of the U.N
immediate reaction from the Israeli or Lebanese governments or Hezbollah but senior United States officials said all parties were aware of
the call for a cease-fire
Earlier, representatives for Israel and Lebanon reiterated their support for a U.N
resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group.The United States hopes the new deal could lead to
longer-term stability along the border between Israel and Lebanon
Months of Israeli and Hezbollah exchanges of fire have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes, and escalated attacks over the
past week have rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.The United States officials said Hezbollah would not be a signatory to
the cease-fire but believed the Lebanese government would coordinate its acceptance with the group
speaks at the General Assembly on Friday.While the deal applies only to the Israel-Lebanon border, the United States officials said they
were looking to use a three-week pause in fighting to restart stalled negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel
and Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group, after nearly a year of war in Gaza.The nations calling for a halt to the Israel-Hezbollah
conflict are the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and
Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, meeting with world leaders in New York and lobbying other countries to support
the plan, according to United States officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.Blinken
first raised the proposal with the French foreign minister Monday and then broadened his outreach that evening at a dinner with the foreign
ministers of all the Group of Seven industrialized democracies.During a meeting Wednesday morning with Gulf Cooperation Council foreign
ministers, Blinken approached Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan to ask
their approval and got it
Blinken and senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein then met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who signed off on the
deal.Sullivan, Hochstein and senior adviser Brett McGurk were also in touch with Israeli officials about the proposal, one of the United
7 attack on Israel by Hamas launched the war in Gaza.The officials said the deal crystallized by late Wednesday afternoon during a
conversation on the sidelines of the U.N
only if it includes the return of Israeli civilians to their homes
Ambassador, Danny Danon, told journalists that Israel would like to see a cease-fire and the return of people to their homes near the
Never fully implemented, it called for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from
Lebanon to be replaced by Lebanese forces and U.N
between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.That war is approaching the one-year mark after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct
7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hostages
Israel responded with an offensive that has since killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not
more than a dozen ships and other entities it says were involved in illicit shipments of Iranian petroleum for the financial benefit of
