Senior Biden administration officials claimed early Thursday morning that Israel and Hezbollah are on the verge of a three-week truce negotiated by the US and France, Sky News reported on Thursday morning

The officials told Sky News that a 21-day truce, negotiated mainly by the US and France, is expected to begin “in the coming hours.”

“The ceasefire will be for 21 days along the blue line,” the officials said. “During that time, the parties will negotiate towards a potential resolution of the conflict that has been ongoing since Hezbollah launched an attack on October 8, to reach a comprehensive agreement along the blue line that will allow residents to return to their homes in both Lebanon and Israel.”

According to the report, Hezbollah would not even be a signatory to the agreement. Instead, the Lebanese government would coordinate the signing with the terror group.

The report was met with fury by members of the coalition and even the opposition, along with the heads of northern cities and communities.

Even opposition leader Yair Lapid expressed his opposition to a 21-day ceasefire, saying: “Israel needs to announce this morning that it accepts the Biden-Macron proposal for a ceasefire but only for 7 days to prevent Hezbollah from restoring its command and control systems. We won’t accept any proposal that doesn’t include pushing Hezbollah away from our northern border.”

The head of the Metula Regional Council, Dovid Azulai, said a ceasefire would ensure “the next October 7″ and that the government must do its job to remove the threat of Hezbollah and allow northern residents to return to their homes. “Hezbollah wants to do exactly what Hamas did in the south on October 7,” Azulai emphasized.

Members of the Likud party, headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who is currently on the way to New York to speak at the UN, expressed their opposition as well. MK Chanoch Milwidsky said: “I’m convinced that reports of a ‘ceasefire within hours’ are just empty spins. It’s doubtful there will be another opportunity to decisively deal with Hezbollah like the current one. I can’t imagine the Israeli government agreeing to that. There’s no ‘deal’ with terrorism. It’s a matter of victory or defeat.”

The Otzma Yehudit party stated: “In light of reports about negotiations for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Otzma Yehudit party will convene for an urgent meeting in the coming hours.”

Settlement Minister Orit Struck said: “There’s no moral mandate for a ceasefire. Not for 21 days. And not for 21 hours. Hezbollah has turned Lebanon into a powder keg. [UN Resolution] 1701 has turned the residents of the north into hostages and exiles in their own land. We’re not repeating past mistakes. We won’t stop until we fix this.”

MK Gideon Sa’ar wrote: “The decrease in air force strikes in Lebanon in recent days and the avoidance of strikes to diminish Hezbollah’s capabilities in the Beirut area, similar to what was done in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley – are mistakes. The continuity and systematic nature of the operations are essential to destroy Hezbollah’s primary capabilities to threaten the Israeli home front. Avoiding this allows Hezbollah to take actions that will hinder the mission moving forward.”

MK Almog Cohen said: “A 21-day surrender agreement that ends amid the elections in the U.S. is a national disaster and is a transfer of the ‘containment equation’ from Gaza to Lebanon. There is no mandate other than bringing Hezbollah to its knees and pushing it back to the Litani line. Residents of the north will not return to their homes waiting for Radwan Force terrorists to come and slaughter their children. Hezbollah made a mistake, Hezbollah needs to pay.”

Hours later, the Prime Minister’s Office denied the validity of the report, saying that “this is a US-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to yet.” The statement also denied a recent Channel 12 report that Netanyahu has instructed the IDF to moderate strikes in Lebanon.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)