Jerusalem/Beirut, Nov 26 (IANS): David Mencer, a spokesperson at the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, said Tuesday that the upcoming ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon will enable the safe return of the residents of northern Israel to their homes.

The agreement will maintain Israel's freedom of operation in Lebanon to act "in defence to remove Hezbollah's threat," Xinhua news agency quoted Mencer as saying in a Reuters report.

The Israeli political-security cabinet is reportedly expected to discuss and approve the ceasefire agreement on Tuesday evening, more than a year after the fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah on October 8, 2023.

On Monday, Lebanon's Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab said a ceasefire deal with Israel has become close after a meeting of the Parliament Bureau.

"We are approaching the ceasefire moment. This week or in the next 10 days, there will be a decisive position," Bou Saab said, according to the Lebanese official National News Agency.

But he also noted that the final decision for a ceasefire in Lebanon will be made according to developments in the war field.

According to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli female soldier was seriously injured on Tuesday by a drone fired from Lebanon into the Mount Hermon area, north of the annexed Golan Heights.

Meanwhile, Lebanese security sources told Xinhua that an Israeli infantry force managed on Tuesday to reach the eastern bank of the Litani River in southern Lebanon for the first time since the start of the war.

Israeli warplanes also carried out an airstrike at the Khardali point located on the road linking the Marjeyoun and Hasbaya areas east of southern Lebanon to the city of Nabatieh, deep in southern Lebanon, the sources said.

Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has intensified its air attack on Lebanon in an escalation of conflict with Hezbollah. Israel further initiated a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon in early October.