Under the agreement, Israeli troops would withdraw from southern Lebanon while Hezbollah would move its forces further away from the Israeli-Lebanon border.

The possibility of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza grew closer as Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, expressed optimism on Sunday following a recent ceasefire

The question is whether the cease-fire in Lebanon that Biden announced Tuesday will be the coda to his diplomatic efforts in the Middle East or a steppingstone to agreements that could at last end the devastating war in the Gaza Strip and potentially even set the stage for a broader regional transformation.