Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, United States President Donald Trump says.

The truce will take effect at 5pm EST on Thursday (21:00 GMT), Trump wrote on social media after speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

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“These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the announcement in a post on X, describing the ceasefire as “a central Lebanese demand we have pursued since the first day of the war” and the primary goal of Tuesday’s meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials in the US.

Lebanon was drawn into the conflict on March 2, when Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned armed group, fired rockets at Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in an Israeli strike on the opening day of a broader US-Israel war on Iran.

Israeli forces responded with a ferocious campaign that has since killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon, wounded thousands more, and issued forced evacuation orders covering roughly 15 percent of Lebanese territory.

The Lebanese health ministry said strikes killed nine people across the Tyre district in southern Lebanon over the past two days, including a paramedic.

Salam also offered prayers for those killed and expressed hope that the more than one million people forced from their homes by Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Lebanon would be able to return “as soon as possible.”

Trump said that he would invite Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to direct talks, saying both sides wanted to resolve their differences and that he believed “that will happen quickly.”

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He also said he had directed Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, to work toward a lasting settlement.

The ceasefire follows an intense week of diplomacy.

On Tuesday, Lebanese and Israeli envoys met in Washington in their countries’ first direct diplomatic contact in decades, hosted by Rubio.

Both sides described the talks as positive, though Aoun refused to speak directly with Netanyahu, a government official familiar with the matter told the Associated Press, adding that Washington “understands Lebanon’s position.”

Trump had sought to get both leaders on the phone together, Al Jazeera’s chief US correspondent Alan Fisher reported from the White House, but the Lebanese side declined to do so ahead of any ceasefire being in place.

A separate US-Iran ceasefire – which the US and Israel say does not cover Lebanon – is due to expire next week, with a fresh round of negotiations expected in Pakistan.

Iran had made securing a Lebanon ceasefire a firm demand ahead of any potential talks, and Tehran’s parliament speaker said that halting the fighting there was “just as important” as ending the war with the United States.

Hezbollah, however, is not party to the agreement and has rejected the diplomatic process outright, with lawmakers calling negotiations with Israel “wrong” and accusing the Lebanese government of making damaging concessions.