Live updates: Iran war, Trump agrees to ceasefire on the condition the Strait of Hormuz is reopened

While much of the world welcomed the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, Israel stayed silent for hours despite being included in the truce, leaving Israelis scrambling through foreign reports to understand what had unfolded.

Trump’s truce announcement landed in the middle of the night, when many Israelis had been anticipating further escalation following his ultimatum to Tehran.

As Iranian, Pakistani, and US sources detailed the terms, no official Israeli statement came out for four hours. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office finally responded, it did so only in English, expressing support for Trump’s “decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks,” noting the truce did not include Lebanon, which Israel has been bombing for weeks.

A Hebrew statement, attributed to a “senior political source,” followed only in the morning, clarifying that the US had coordinated the ceasefire with Israel.

The Lebanon carve-out appears to be the deal’s main point of confusion. While Pakistan stated Lebanon was included, Netanyahu said the ceasefire applied to Iran only. Israel’s military said it is continuing to strike Hezbollah in Lebanon.

With the ongoing Jewish Passover holiday being observed by most Israeli ministers, official reactions are not expected until the holiday ends Wednesday evening. The sole public response from a coalition politician came from Zvika Fogel, a lawmaker from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right party, who posted on X: “Donald, you came out a lame duck.” He later deleted the post.

The opposition moved quickly to fill the communication vacuum with sharp rebukes of Netanyahu and his strategy. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called it “the worst diplomatic disaster in our history.” Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrat party, accused Netanyahu of failing to translate military gains into strategic outcomes, saying Iran “exits this war stronger”.