WASHINGTON — The United States has successfully brokered a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, President Biden announced Tuesday. 

"We're determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence," Biden said. "The United States, with the support of France and our other allies, have pledged to work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure that this arrangement is fully implemented."

Effective at 4 a.m. Wednesday local time, fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end as part of what is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities, said Biden, who announced in a speech from the White House Rose Garden that the prime ministers of Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the U.S. proposal.

Over the next 60 days, Israel forces will gradually withdraw from Lebanon and civilians on both sides of the border will be able to safely rebuild their communities, the president said. Hezbollah will be barred from rebuilding its infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security Cabinet approved the proposal by a 10-1 vote late Tuesday night, his office said. Hours earlier, Netanyahu announced he was recommending that the panel approve the plan.

Netanyahu defended the ceasefire, saying Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah and could now focus its efforts on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and his top security concern, Iran. Netanyahu vowed to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal.

“If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said in a televised address. “For every violation, we will attack with might.”

Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

Israeli warplanes, meanwhile, carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold.

Another huge airstrike shook Beirut shortly after the ceasefire was announced. Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.

The ceasefire marks the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in Lebanon and nearly 600,000 have been displaced since Israel invaded southern Lebanon in early October, according to the United Nations. 

Saying the ceasefire deal "heralds a new start for Lebanon," Biden said the people of Gaza also "deserve an end to the fighting and displacement." 

He said Hamas had only one way out of the conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 44,000 Palestinians: releasing the hostages, including American citizens, and in the process bringing an end to the fighting to enable a surge of humanitarian relief.

Biden said he will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a so-far-elusive ceasefire and hostage release and end the war in Gaza. 

"Today's announcement brings us closer to realizing an affirmative agenda that I've been pushing forward during my entire presidency — a vision for the future of the Middle East where it's at peace and prosperous ... where Palestinians have a state of their own," he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the date of Hamas' attack on Israel.