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Trump sets two-week talks
U.S. President Donald Trump said direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would take place "within two weeks," during a press conference on Thursday, as the ceasefire framework continued to evolve.
“direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would take place "within two weeks"”
The previous day, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Lebanon was waiting for the United States to set a date for discussions with Israel after "two unprecedented preparatory sessions" overseen by the U.S. in Washington, D.C.
Those preparatory meetings between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors produced a first ten-day truce that took effect on April 17 and was extended for three weeks after a second round of discussions.
Lebanon set conditions for talks in Washington that included "the cessation of Israeli attacks, strikes and assassinations" and "the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories" along with abandonment of the "buffer zone" referred to as the "yellow line" by Tel Aviv.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut later published a message on X stating that a meeting between Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would "give Lebanon the chance to secure concrete guarantees" including "full sovereignty" and "the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory—guaranteed by the United States."
The same embassy message said, "Lebanon stands at a crossroads" and that "The time for hesitation is over."
Ceasefire extended, talks accelerate
Trump also said the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks, writing in a social media message that "The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS."
The extension followed in-person talks between officials from the U.S., Israel and Lebanon hosted at the White House on Thursday, according to Scripps News.
Trump said he would soon host the heads of government from both countries for more in-person negotiations.
The Scripps News account described earlier April talks as the first such direct negotiations between senior Israeli and Lebanese officials in more than 30 years, which helped lead to a 10-day ceasefire.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter suggested the countries were "on the same side," united against Hezbollah, while stressing Israel would continue to go after targets that threaten Israeli security.
Hezbollah’s leaders rejected the ceasefire agreement as "an insult to our country" and "a slippery slope with no end in sight," and the article said Israeli and Hezbollah fighters continued to exchange fire after the ceasefire took effect.
The IDF confirmed a strike on Hezbollah, claiming officials "eliminated terrorists who violated the ceasefire understandings in Southern Lebanon and approached the troops, posing an imminent threat."
Hezbollah rejects talks, Aoun demands full ceasefire
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said Israel must implement a ceasefire in full before direct negotiations begin, telling reporters that "Israel must realize decisively that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations."
“Israel must realize decisively that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations”
Aoun added that "Israeli attacks cannot continue as they are after the ceasefire is announced," and said Beirut was waiting for Washington to set a date after "two ambassador-level meetings in Washington."
He also argued that criticisms about Lebanon granting Israel freedom to continue assaults were based on a U.S. State Department statement, insisting it was "not an agreement, because an agreement is reached after the negotiations."
On the Israeli side, Al-Arabiya TV’s correspondent in occupied East Jerusalem, Ahmed Draousha, said Netanyahu was seeking a pledge from the Lebanese state through the army to disarm Hezbollah and work toward an agreement within two weeks.
Hezbollah rejected the negotiations outright, with VOI.id reporting Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem saying, "We firmly reject direct negotiations with Israel, and those in power must know that their actions will benefit neither Lebanon nor themselves."
Qassem urged authorities to "withdraw from their grave sin that has plunged Lebanon into a spiral of instability," and said, "We will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people."
He added, "No matter the threat posed by the enemy, we will not retreat, we will not surrender, and we will not be defeated," and said, "We will not renounce our weapons, and Israel's enemies will not remain an inch on our occupied land."
Deadlines and escalation threats
While Trump framed negotiations as a near-term process, Israeli media and reporting described a tighter deadline and escalation risk if talks fail.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that Israel set a two-week deadline for reaching an agreement during U.S.-mediated negotiations and warned of renewed military escalation if talks fail, citing Israeli media.
It said the public broadcaster KAN described Tel Aviv’s "limited timeframe" for the talks as "not exceeding two weeks" to secure what it called a "real agreement."
KAN said Israel linked the current ceasefire arrangement—extended until mid-May—to reaching a substantive deal within that period, and quoted KAN saying, "We cannot wait indefinitely… we will give negotiations only an additional two weeks."
The same Anadolu Ajansı account said Israeli assessments indicated that failure to achieve tangible progress within this timeframe could lead to a resumption of fighting and intensified military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
L’Orient-Le Jour’s analysis framed the Israeli pressure as an ultimatum, saying, "Two Weeks for an Agreement: The Israeli Ultimatum to Lebanon," and described how Lebanon’s demand for a prior and consolidated ceasefire met with intensified escalation, evacuation notices, and an expansion of military operations.
In parallel, the Lebanese presidency said a meeting with Israel would take place on Tuesday, April 14 in Washington to discuss a ceasefire and the start date of negotiations, and it reported that Lebanon wanted a ceasefire "before any negotiations."
Humanitarian toll and what comes next
The sources describe a conflict that continues even as negotiations proceed, with large casualty and displacement figures cited by Lebanese authorities and tallies attributed to other sources.
“more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon”
Today reported that since the start of the conflict, more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, and Lebanese authorities also report more than a million displaced people who fled areas bombed or targeted by Israeli evacuation orders.
It also cited a study published Wednesday by U.N. organizations and the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture saying about 1.2 million people in Lebanon are at risk of acute food insecurity due to the war.
Le Devoir quoted President Joseph Aoun saying his objective was to end the state of war with Israel "in the same spirit as the Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel in 1949," while also insisting, "I assure you I will not accept a humiliating agreement."
The same Le Devoir report said Israeli strikes targeted towns in southern Lebanon on Monday, and it cited AFP figures compiled from official Lebanese sources that Israeli strikes have killed at least 36 people since the start of the truce, including 14 on Sunday.
It also said the conflict since March 2 has already killed 2,509 and wounded 7,755 on the Lebanese side, and that sixteen Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, including one on Sunday, according to Israel.
On the ground, العربي الجديد reported that Israeli aggression continued and that the death toll in the last 24 hours rose to 42 martyrs, while it also described destruction including a water-treatment plant in Batoulieh that destroyed it and cut water supply to residents.
