TEL AVIV, June 2 (Reuters): Benjamin Netanyahu is under criticism at home after US President Donald Trump declared Israel would halt plans to attack Iran ally Hezbollah in Beirut, highlighting pressure the Israeli leader faces ahead of an election polls show him losing.
Trump said on Monday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to halt attacks on one another, hours after Netanyahu ordered new strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, prompting a warning from Iran that Israel was jeopardising Tehran's talks with the US.
Lebanon's government later announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, under which Israel would halt strikes on southern Beirut and Hezbollah would stop attacks on Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire despite an April 16 US-brokered ceasefire. The latest conflict began on March 2 with Hezbollah firing into Israel in support of Iran.
Israel has since deepened its invasion of southern Lebanon, displacing over a million people and killing more than 3,400 as it bombards areas with attacks it says are aimed at rooting out Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not released figures on its war dead.
Hezbollah has fired rockets and explosive drones at Israeli troops and northern Israeli towns. Israel says 26 soldiers and four civilians have been killed since March 2.
After Trump's announcement on Monday of a new Israel-Hezbollah agreement, Netanyahu said Israel's stance in the conflict "remains unchanged."
TRUMP PUSH FOR HALT TO ATTACKS UNREASONABLE, EISENKOT SAYS
"(If) Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens -- Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut," Netanyahu said in a statement following Trump's announcement.
Israel's military has continued to carry out attacks on southern Lebanon since Trump's declaration on Monday.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel had refrained from carrying out strikes on Beirut at the request of the US But he warned that any new Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel would trigger strikes on southern Beirut suburbs, considered a stronghold of the militant group.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israeli military who is also running for prime minister, said on Monday that Trump's push for Israel to halt attacks was unreasonable.
"There has never been an Israeli prime minister who accepted such a humiliating demand," Eisenkot wrote on X.
AFP adds, Israel's defence minister said Tuesday Washington had given its backing to potential Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern Dahiyeh suburb, a Hezbollah bastion, if the Iran-backed group attacked northern Israeli communities.
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