Netanyahu Authorizes Direct Negotiations With Lebanon

More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced since Israel started targeting ⁠Hezbollah in early March.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, Israel, on March 19, 2026. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 9 that he wants to begin peace talks with Lebanon “as soon as possible.”

“In light of Lebanon’s repeated requests to ​open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed ​the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with ⁠Lebanon as soon as possible,” Netanyahu wrote in a statement released on Thursday.