BEIRUT: Caretaker prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, on Monday said that international community should put pressure on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon after a UN Security Council vote called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli military and Lebanese group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the southern Lebanese border along with the war in Gaza. Hezbollah did not make any immediate comment on the UN vote.
In a statement, Mikati welcomed the development, saying it was a first step on the path to stop the Israeli brutality on the Gaza Strip.
“When it comes to Lebanon, we renew our call to concerned countries to pressure the Israeli enemy to stop its continued aggression on southern Lebanon,” the statement said.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier said Israel could not stop its offensive against Hamas while there were still hostages in Gaza.
Mikati told western media in February that a ceasefire in Gaza would trigger indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to reach a pause to hostilities on the southern border and to delineate the disputed border between the two states.
Hezbollah has also said it would stop its attacks into Israel if a Gaza ceasefire was achieved. Israeli and US officials, however, said a Gaza ceasefire would not extend to Lebanon automatically.
