Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel is “interested” in the complete implementation of the deal, which includes Hezbollah moving its forces and arsenal north, away from the Lebanon-Israel border.

“Israel is interested in the implementation of the agreement in Lebanon and will continue to enforce it fully and without compromise to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Katz said during a weekend visit to an Israeli military base in northern Israel.

The deal, which was implemented in late November 2024 and was built on the 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war, called on Hezbollah to move its forces north of the Litani River, which runs parallel to the border, about 18 miles north of it.

The deal effectively calls for only the Lebanese army and U.N. forces to be allowed in the area between the Litani and the Israel-Lebanon border — not Hezbollah or Israeli forces.

“But the first condition for the implementation of the agreement is the complete withdrawal of the Hezbollah terror organization beyond the Litani River, the dismantling of all weapons, and the [removal] of the terror infrastructure in the area by the Lebanese army, something that hasn’t happened yet,” Katz said.

The 60-day ceasefire agreement is set to expire on Jan. 26. Both sides have accused one another of violating the terms of the deal as they have exchanged tit-for-tat strikes and numerous Israeli operations in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s new leader, Qaim Nassam, also warned over the weekend that the group could resume attacks against Israel before or after the deal expires.

“There is no timetable that specifies the resistance’s work, and our patience is linked to the appropriate timing to confront the enemy,” Qassem said in a speech. “Our patience may run out before or after the 60 days, when we decide to do something that you will see directly.”

Israel evacuated more than 50,000 residents from northern Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that resulted in the killing of roughly 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 250 others due to concerns that Hezbollah could conduct a similar cross-border assault against civilians.

“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act independently to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Katz added.

Hezbollah began cross-border drone and missile attacks a day after the Hamas attack, and Israel frequently retaliated. Israel escalated its assault on Hezbollah in September 2024, decimating Hezbollah’s senior leadership and ranks, including the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli forces are still fighting against Hamas in Gaza, though Israel’s troops have also decimated Hamas’s ranks. Israel’s military has destroyed infrastructure across the strip and displaced nearly the entire population, while the lack of humanitarian goods and services has raised concerns of starvation and disease. More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, and Israeli officials have acknowledged that about half were civilians.

Negotiators are hoping to get a ceasefire agreement solidified between the two sides that would result in the release of the remaining hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, but the mediating parties have been unable to get such an agreement finalized for more than a year.

“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time that we have remaining, and we will work every minute of every day of those two weeks to try to get that to happen,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday. “If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get to completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.”

President-elect Donald Trump reiterated Monday on Hugh Hewitt’s podcast that if Hamas does not release the hostages by the time he is inaugurated, “there will be hell to pay.”

Hamas released a propaganda video featuring one of the hostages, Liri Albag, over the weekend.