Israel and Lebanon have signed a 45-day extension to a tenuous ceasefire deal that has failed to halt the violence and displacement in Israeli-occupied areas of southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces continue to battle Hezbollah.
Both sides bought themselves time. Neither got what they actually came for. Israel still has no agreement on eliminating Hezbollah from Lebanon’s south. Lebanon still has no timetable for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said the “security zone” Israel carved out in southern Lebanon could become permanent.
The extension was announced by U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott after five more hours of talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats on Friday, following eight hours of talks Thursday. It will allow both sides to return for a fourth round of talks in Washington on June 2 and 3, as well as separate military-to-military discussions at the Pentagon on May 29.
The United States hoped the extension and the next round of negotiations could “advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establish genuine security along their shared border,” Pigott said.
Pigott did not say whether U.S. officials still hoped to convene Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun for leadership-level negotiations in Washington, as proposed by President Donald Trump at the White House last month. Neither of the two leaders was present for this week’s talks, with the Americans also downgrading their own representation from White House-level to the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon and a senior State Department official.
The previous round of negotiations last month took place at the White House and was led by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. At that meeting, Trump proposed leadership-level talks in Washington between Netanyahu and Aoun, but such a summit appears further away than ever.
Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to Washington who led Jerusalem’s delegation alongside Israeli Deputy National Security Adviser Yossi Draznin, said in a post to X after the talks that he was “looking forward to the next steps.”
“The peace talks were frank and constructive, and are set to move forward on two tracks: security and political,” he said. “There will be ups and downs, but the potential for success is great. What will be paramount throughout negotiations is the security of our citizens and our soldiers.”
The two sides remain far apart on the core issues. Netanyahu has said Israeli forces will not depart Lebanon until Hezbollah is eliminated from territory along Israel’s northern border. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said last week that President Joseph Aoun would not meet with Netanyahu unless Israel first presented a clear timetable for withdrawal.
The cost of the unresolved conflict continues to mount. A further seven Lebanese people were killed by Israel’s military in the south on Friday, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, adding to the 22 killed on Thursday ahead of the first day of talks. The ministry said the total number killed since Israel resumed hostilities with Hezbollah on March 2 now stands at 2,951, and that more than 1.2 million people have been displaced following Israeli military evacuation orders covering nearly 15 percent of Lebanese territory.
The Lebanese Embassy said in a statement to MBN that it “welcomed” the extension but still hoped for a more concrete timetable for an Israeli withdrawal. “The extension of the ceasefire and the establishment of U.S.-facilitated security tracks provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability,” the embassy said.
While Lebanon hoped to “engage constructively” in further talks with Israel, the embassy added, the country reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment to reaching an agreement that fully restores Lebanon’s national sovereignty and guarantees the safety and return of all its citizens.”
Alex Willemyns
Alex Willemyns is MBN’s Washington DC correspondent. He has more than a decade of experience reporting on international relations and U.S. foreign policy.
