US envoy Amos Hochstein said he was happy to see the IDF withdraw from the western sector of Lebanon back to Israel.
In a news conference in Lebanon following meetings with top officials on Monday, Hochstein said these withdrawals would continue until the IDF was completely out of the country.
An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that plans for the deployment of Lebanese Army troops and the withdrawal of the IDF “don’t change the fact that, right now, after the ceasefire terminates [on January 27], Israeli forces will need to remain in southern Lebanon.”
Soldiers injured in Gaza
In Gaza, two soldiers were seriously wounded in combat in northern Gaza, the IDF announced.
Hamas fired three rockets from northern Gaza to the border area on Monday, with one hitting a building in Sderot.
Sirens also sounded in Ibim and Nir Am. The air force intercepted one of the rockets and the third one fell in an open area.
Magen David Adom said a woman in her 60s had sustained light wounds after being injured while running to a safe area.
Push for ceasefire and hostage deal
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Monday for a final push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal before President Joe Biden leaves office and President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining,” Blinken told a news conference in South Korea when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.
Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held by Hamas were not freed before his inauguration, now viewed in the region as an unofficial deadline for a truce deal.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
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