Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that Israel would strike targets in Beirut's southern suburbs if Hezbollah did not halt its attacks on Israeli cities and civilians. The warning came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group.
Netanyahu said he spoke with Trump and told him directly that if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israeli cities and civilians, Israel would strike targets in Beirut. He added that Israel's position on this remained unchanged.
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement saying they had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to strike Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh quarter of Beirut's southern suburbs, citing what they described as repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah.
The IDF also issued a statement in Arabic urging all residents of the Dahiyeh district to relocate for their safety, warning that if Hezbollah continued firing toward Israeli cities and communities, the IDF would respond by striking terrorist targets there.
The threat set off a wave of displacement. Images from Beirut showed families fleeing the southern suburbs on Monday after Israel threatened to strike the area.
Trump moved quickly to intervene. The U.S. president declared on social media on Monday that both Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop fighting. He said Netanyahu had pledged to halt a threatened invasion of Beirut's southern suburbs, and that Hezbollah had also agreed to halt hostilities.
However, Netanyahu's later statement introduced uncertainty about whether Israel fully accepted the deal. His remarks came roughly two hours after Trump announced the ceasefire, and conflicting signals from Washington, Jerusalem, and Hezbollah left the terms of the agreement unclear.
An Israeli source told the Ynet news site that Israel had postponed the planned strikes on Beirut at the request of the United States, and that Washington was advancing a ceasefire initiative and asked Israel to wait.
Hezbollah's position also remained ambiguous. A Hezbollah lawmaker claimed the ceasefire that both sides accepted covered all of Lebanon, not just Beirut.
The diplomatic push had been building for days. Netanyahu spoke by phone on Saturday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seeking to persuade senior administration officials that Israel could not grant Hezbollah effective immunity in Beirut.
The Trump administration had also proposed a partial ceasefire arrangement over the weekend. Under that proposal, Hezbollah would stop striking northern Israel in exchange for Israel committing not to strike Beirut.
Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri told the Trump administration on Sunday that Hezbollah was ready for a full and immediate ceasefire with Israel, and pledged to guarantee its implementation.
The renewed threat to Beirut came against a backdrop of escalating violence. A ceasefire brokered by the United States on April 17 has never been fully observed, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, more than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest round of fighting began in March. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Over 1.2 million people have been displaced. Israel reports 24 soldiers and four civilians killed on its side over the same period.
The crisis also threatened to destabilize broader diplomatic efforts in the region. Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran's negotiating team had suspended its exchange of messages with the United States through mediators, citing Israel's actions in Lebanon as the reason.
More than one million people have been forcibly displaced across Lebanon since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel escalated in March 2026.
As of Monday evening, the situation remained fluid. Netanyahu's public statement that Israel's position remained unchanged on Beirut strikes appeared to conflict with the ceasefire announced by Trump. Both sides were yet to confirm a unified or detailed agreement.