Israel backs Trump’s 2-week pause on Iran strikes

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel supports US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend military strikes against Iran for two weeks.

"Israel supports President Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region," the office said on the US social media company X's platform.

Trump announced Tuesday that he agreed "to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks."

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who played a key role in brokering the ceasefire, announced on X that he invited Iranian and US delegations to Islamabad on Friday and said Washington and Tehran, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire across all conflict zones, including Lebanon.

However, Netanyahu's office said the two-week ceasefire "does not include Lebanon."

"Israel also supports the US effort to ensure that Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile and terror threat to America, Israel, Iran's Arab neighbors and the world," it added.

Israel has carried out airstrikes and a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2, despite a ceasefire that took effect in November 2024.

The number of people killed in Israeli strikes since March 2 rose to 1,497, with 4,639 others injured, according to the Health Ministry.

Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets into Israel since early March, saying the attacks are in response to continued Israeli strikes on Lebanon as well as the killing of Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28.