Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu
Donald Trump and Benjamin NetanyahuAmos Ben Gershom/GPO

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confidant, told US President-elect Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner this week that Israel is rushing to advance a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing three current and former Israeli officials briefed on the meeting.

According to the officials, the goal of the move is to deliver an early foreign policy win to the president-elect.

Dermer made Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate the first stop on his US tour on Sunday before traveling to the White House to update Biden administration officials on the state of Lebanon talks.

“There is an understanding that Israel would gift something to Trump … that in January there will be an understanding about Lebanon,” an Israeli official told The Washington Post.

Dermer’s spokesman told The Post that he discussed a wide range of issues during his trip but did not elaborate.

Netanyahu’s office and a spokesperson for Trump declined to comment. Kushner’s spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.

The conversations at Trump’s Florida residence on Sunday focused on an Israeli ceasefire proposal for Lebanon involving Western and Russian cooperation, an Israeli official told The Post. An Israeli military official said plans were also being created to ramp up ground operations in Lebanon if talks were to ultimately fall apart.

The terms of the evolving deal, according to Israeli officials, would require Hezbollah to retreat beyond the Litani River.

A person close to Hezbollah said the group would be willing to withdraw north of the Litani as part of a temporary ceasefire. The Israeli official said the Lebanese military would take control of the border zone for an initial 60-day period, overseen by the United States and Britain.

The proposal also calls for the IDF to be able to operate across the border in case of violations.

The broad contours of the agreement taking shape are similar to those in previous rounds of negotiations but the plan has yet to be formally submitted to Hezbollah, according to officials in both countries.

The person close to Hezbollah said the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.”

Following his meetings in Mar-a-Lago, Dermer met on Monday and Tuesday with Biden officials in Washington, including Amos Hochstein, the president’s special envoy to Lebanon, a senior US official told The Post.

The senior official noted that Netanyahu remains engaged with the administration on the ceasefire process in Lebanon. A second US official said that all the work on a potential deal was still being done by Biden’s team and that progress had been made.