Rhino: Agencies – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told two US envoys on Thursday that Israel’s ability to counter threats to its security from Lebanon and the return of displaced people to the north are key factors in any ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.

Netanyahu’s remarks came shortly after an attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah group on the northern Israeli town of Metulla that Israeli authorities said killed five people, including an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, while two other civilians were killed by shrapnel near the town of Kiryat Ata.

Beirut said six health workers were killed in a series of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.

“The main issue is not the paperwork of this or that agreement, but Israel’s ability and determination to enforce the agreement and thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as telling the US envoys.

US envoys Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein are visiting Israel to provide a fresh push for a ceasefire in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Sources told Reuters earlier that the talks would focus on a 60-day truce to allow the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from south of the Litani River.