“We’ve been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for over 11 months now and we see every week the death toll rising, more children, more women,” she told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
“But today we are very pleased to see that there is a ceasefire with Hezbollah and that the people of Lebanon and Israel can know some peace.”
Israel’s vote came shortly before Biden spoke in Washington, saying the deal was “good news”.
Foreign ministers from the G7 threw their strong support behind the immediate ceasefire but sidestepped whether to enforce an international arrest warrant for Israel’s leader over the war in Gaza.
In the final communique from their meeting in Fiuggi, Italy, they demanded Israel “facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms” to Palestinians in Gaza, warning that its year-long assault had led to unprecedented food insecurity.
Biden expressed hope that the pause in more than 13 months of fighting will be a catalyst to also end the war in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC.Credit: Bloomberg
He stressed that Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce.
Biden added that the deal between Israel and Hezbollah “was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities”.
“What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again,” Biden said.
In his address, Netanyahu added there were three reasons to pursue a ceasefire – to focus on Iran, replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest, and finally to isolate Hamas, the militant group that triggered war in the region when it launched an attack on Israel from Gaza last year.
He said Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and allied to Hamas, was considerably weaker than it had been at the start of the conflict.
“We have set it back decades, eliminated ... its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralised thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border,” he said.
“We targeted strategic objectives across Lebanon, shaking Beirut to its core.”