Israeli Air Raids Kill At Least 20 In Southern Lebanon Despite Ceasefire

Israeli air raids killed at least 20 people in southern Lebanon, including a civil defence rescuer, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese state-run media said.

“Israeli air raids have killed at least 20 people in southern Lebanon, including a civil defence rescuer, according to Lebanese state-run media, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah”

Al Jazeera

A Lebanese health ministry statement said an Israeli air strike killed four people, including two women, and injured eight others in the town of Toura in Tyre district on Friday.

Al Jazeera

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported rescue operations were still ongoing to search for a missing girl beneath the rubble, and it said Lebanese Red Cross teams recovered the bodies of two missing young men after Israeli air strikes on Thursday in the town of Blat in the Marjayoun district.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said 50 people were killed in the past 24 hours in Israeli strikes, while Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, said residents of Toura and other towns were asked to leave as new forced evacuation orders were issued for southern Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed-upon time and place following a trilateral meeting hosted by the United States in Washington on Tuesday, the US State Department said in a statement.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said, "sometimes just having the meeting, getting all sides in the room, is a huge first accomplishment," as Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials at the State Department.

Al-Hurra

Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem called for the latest talks to be scrapped before they even began, describing them as "futile" and urging the Lebanese government to focus on confronting Israeli aggression.

Lebanese Ambassador Moawad called the meeting "constructive" but insisted on "the full sovereignty of the state over all Lebanese land," and Al Jazeera reported that Lebanese culture minister Ghassan Salame said the Washington talks were an exploratory step focused on securing a halt in Israeli attacks.

A third round of US-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel is scheduled for May 14–15 in Washington, the US State Department confirmed, as cross-border escalations between Israel and Hezbollah persist.

“As anticipation grows for a third round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington this week, with hopes of establishing a ceasefire, the reality on the ground in southern Lebanon reflects a very different situation, with fighting intensifying”

Al-Jazeera Net

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Al Jazeera Arabic that Beirut wants to "solidify" the ceasefire ahead of the next round of negotiations, saying the government will raise the issue of halting attacks, releasing prisoners, and setting a timetable for withdrawal.

Shafaq News said the second round of ambassador-level discussions took place on April 23 after a US-backed ceasefire halted military operations, but it added that the ceasefire was extended by US President Donald Trump for an additional three weeks without stopping Israeli military activity on the ground.

In parallel, the Al Jazeera report on the on-the-ground reality said the Israeli army widened its military operations in southern Lebanon, launching 75 attacks on Friday that killed 30 people and left at least 22 others injured, while Hezbollah announced it fired a rocket strike at the Sharaga base in northern Israel.