Lebanon’s health ministry said three strikes hit the Saida-South coastal highway in the areas of Barja, Jiyeh and Saadiyat, resulting in eight fatalities. The ministry described the attacks as raids carried out by the “Israeli enemy.”

The Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure across southern Lebanon, hours after issuing evacuation warnings to residents in several villages in the Tyre region.

“The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah terror infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli drones targeted two cars on the highway linking Beirut to southern Lebanon, while additional strikes hit vehicles in Saadiyat in the Chouf district and in the southern city of Sidon.

An AFP photographer at the scene near Jiyeh, roughly 20 kilometers south of Beirut, saw a charred vehicle on the roadside as emergency responders carried away a victim’s body.

The latest attacks followed similar strikes in the same area on Saturday and came amid continuing Israeli operations despite a ceasefire that took effect on April 17 to halt fighting with the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

On Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said 13 people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on southern towns. The ministry added that at least 380 people had been killed since the truce began.

The Israeli military’s latest evacuation warnings signaled expectations of additional strikes in southern Lebanon, where intermittent hostilities have persisted despite diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict.

The violence comes ahead of a new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel scheduled to take place in Washington on Thursday under US mediation.
Hezbollah has opposed the talks. The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, warned on Tuesday that Hezbollah would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israel if attacks continued.
Since Hezbollah entered the broader regional conflict in early March, more than 2,800 people, including around 200 children, have been killed in Lebanon, according to figures released by the Lebanese health ministry.

The military identified the soldier as Sergeant Major Alexander Glovanyov, 47, who was killed on Sunday in fighting close to the Israel-Lebanon frontier.
His death brings the number of Israeli military personnel killed since the conflict with Hezbollah intensified in early March to 18, according to Israeli military figures. One Israeli civilian contractor has also been killed during the hostilities.

Fighting has continued in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon on April 17 that was intended to halt cross-border exchanges of fire and reduce the risk of a broader regional escalation.

Hezbollah entered the conflict on March 2 after launching rockets into Israel, saying the attacks were retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, according to statements from the group.

Israel responded with extensive airstrikes and later expanded operations into a ground campaign in southern Lebanon.

Israeli forces are currently operating behind what the military describes as a “yellow line,” an Israeli-declared security zone extending roughly 10 kilometers north of Lebanon’s border.

The latest casualty announcement came as smoke was seen rising from areas in southern Lebanon following reported Israeli airstrikes targeting the village of Choukine, according to AFP images from the region.

The ongoing exchanges have heightened concerns that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could evolve into a wider regional confrontation involving Iran and allied armed groups across the Middle East.

Diplomatic efforts led by international mediators have so far failed to fully enforce the ceasefire or secure a durable de-escalation along the volatile frontier.

In a video statement released by his office, Netanyahu said Israeli forces had “eliminated” the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force in the Lebanese capital the previous night, referring to the armed group’s elite military unit.“Anyone who threatens the State of Israel will die because of his actions,” Netanyahu said, reiterating Israel’s position that it would continue targeting militant leaders it considers security threats.

The strike in central Beirut marked another escalation despite an existing ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Lebanon, and came ahead of a new round of U.S.-mediated talks scheduled in Washington next week.Hezbollah has not immediately issued detailed public comment on Netanyahu’s statement.

Israel has continued airstrikes in Lebanon in recent weeks, saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and commanders linked to attacks against Israeli territory.The Radwan force is regarded as one of Hezbollah’s most prominent combat units and has been central to the group’s operations along the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

The Israeli military said the Wednesday strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force unit, escalating tensions despite a truce that began on April 17 and was intended to halt weeks of cross-border fighting.

Lebanese state media reported renewed Israeli strikes on several towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Thursday, while the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for residents in three villages north of the Litani River, beyond areas occupied by Israeli ground forces.

In the southern city of Nabatieh, strikes hit a shopping center and nearby residential buildings, according to Lebanese state media and an AFP correspondent at the scene.Airstrikes also targeted the nearby village of Toul, where two emergency responders affiliated with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee were wounded while responding to an earlier strike, spokesperson Mahmoud Karaki said.

Karaki said the team’s ambulance sustained heavy damage in the attack.Photographs from Beirut’s southern suburbs showed upper floors of a residential building destroyed, with rescue teams continuing search operations through the debris on Thursday morning.

Despite the strike on its stronghold near the Lebanese capital, Hezbollah has not announced retaliatory action.The Israeli military separately said four Israeli soldiers were wounded on Wednesday, one seriously, after what it described as an “explosive drone impact” in southern Lebanon.

Although the ceasefire formally halted major hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, exchanges of fire and Israeli airstrikes have continued in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah has periodically claimed attacks against Israeli forces stationed in border areas.

The conflict intensified after fighting erupted on March 2, drawing Lebanon deeper into regional tensions linked to the broader confrontation involving Iran and its allied groups.According to Lebanese authorities, more than 2,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began.

Israel’s military says 17 soldiers and one civilian contractor have died during operations in southern Lebanon.

Medics said one Palestinian was killed and two others wounded in an Israeli airstrike near the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, while a separate Israeli tank shelling in the central part of the enclave killed another person and injured several more.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reported strikes.Hostilities have persisted in Gaza despite the truce, with near-daily incidents reported by local authorities. Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire terms.At Al-Shifa Hospital, relatives gathered to mourn one of the victims, identified as Mohammed Al-Ghandour, according to hospital officials.

Witnesses described scenes of grief as family members assembled outside the morgue.Local medics say at least 830 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, while Israeli authorities report that militants have killed four Israeli soldiers over the same period.

Israel says its operations are aimed at preventing attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.More than 72,500 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza war began in October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities, with civilians accounting for a majority of the casualties.

Since the ceasefire, Israeli forces have maintained control over more than half of the enclave, where large-scale destruction and displacement have left much of the population of over 2 million living in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings along the coast.

The deadliest strike hit the town of Habboush, where eight people were killed, including a child and two women, and 21 others were wounded, the ministry said. An earlier evacuation warning had been issued by the Israeli military, which urged residents to move at least one kilometer away and said it would act “forcefully” against what it described as Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes launched heavy strikes less than an hour after the warning, while an AFP photographer at the scene said thick clouds of smoke rose above the town following the bombardment.

Additional strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, including two women, and wounded four others, while another strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and injured seven, according to the ministry.Israel has continued military operations in Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire intended to halt more than six weeks of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel retains the right to respond to what it defines as planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.The Israeli military has maintained operations inside a so-called “Yellow Line,” a roughly 10-kilometer-deep zone along Lebanon’s southern border, where troops have carried out demolitions and detonations of buildings and infrastructure.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli forces on Friday demolished a monastery and a school run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun, following earlier destruction of homes, shops and roads. It also reported artillery shelling and strikes in other areas, including around Tyre and Shamaa.

Hezbollah said it launched a series of retaliatory attacks on Israeli troops and military sites in southern Lebanon, describing them as a response to repeated Israeli ceasefire violations.The group entered the wider regional conflict in March by firing rockets into Israel following the U.S.-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, according to the group’s previous statements.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 had risen to more than 2,600 people, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.Humanitarian agencies also voiced concern over the safety of rescue teams operating in conflict zones. Xavier Castellanos, under-secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Lebanese Red Cross volunteers were carrying out missions under constant threat.

“When they go on a mission, they fear for their lives,” Castellanos told reporters near Beirut, adding that two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics were among those killed in Israeli strikes.He said attacks on humanitarian workers trying to save lives were “absolutely unacceptable.”

The Israeli military said it had begun targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa region as well as in southern Lebanon, while security sources told Reuters that strikes hit near the town of Nabi Chit, close to Lebanon’s border with Syria.

No immediate fatalities were reported.The strikes marked the first attacks on the Bekaa Valley since the ceasefire came into force, significantly reducing but not ending the exchange of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group.

Israel has continued near-daily strikes across southern Lebanon and maintains troops in a strip of territory along the border, where it says operations are aimed at dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure and preventing further attacks.

Lebanon’s state news agency reported multiple Israeli strikes in southern areas on Monday that wounded at least three people.Hezbollah said it had attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon using a drone.

The Israeli military later confirmed that a Hezbollah drone exploded near its troops in southern Lebanon but said no casualties were reported.The ceasefire followed weeks of intense fighting that escalated after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel on March 2 in support of its ally Iran, prompting a broad Israeli ground and air campaign across Lebanon.

Since then, more than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon, with large parts of the south heavily damaged and thousands displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The conflict has deepened political divisions inside Lebanon, particularly over Hezbollah’s independent military role and the prospect of diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States have held two rounds of discussions related to the ceasefire framework, which is intended to create conditions for possible direct negotiations aimed at securing a broader peace arrangement between the longtime adversaries.

Hezbollah has strongly rejected such talks.Its leader, Naim Qassem, said on Monday that direct negotiations with Israel would amount to a “humiliating and unnecessary concession,” dismissing any outcomes from such discussions as irrelevant to the group.

“Let it be clear, these direct negotiations and their outcomes are considered nonexistent to us and do not concern us at all,” Qassem said in a written statement. “We will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun defended the government’s decision to pursue face-to-face talks and appeared to criticize Hezbollah’s unilateral decision to enter the regional conflict without broad national agreement.

“What we are doing is not treason; rather, treason is committed by whoever takes his country to war to achieve external interests,” Aoun said in a statement released by his office, without naming Hezbollah directly.

“Some hold us accountable for deciding to go to negotiations on the pretext of the lack of national consensus, and I ask: When you went to war, did you first obtain national consensus?” he said.

The remarks underscored widening internal tensions over Lebanon’s security policy as the government seeks to balance domestic political divisions, ongoing Israeli military pressure and international efforts to prevent a broader regional escalation.

Sixteen-day-old Shiman was born inside a roadside tent to her mother, Haifa Kenjo, who had fled the southern suburbs of the capital as bombardments intensified. The family escaped with no belongings, leaving behind their home and savings amid the destruction.

Now living under a tarp secured with rocks near central Beirut, the family faces harsh conditions marked by damp bedding, insects and limited access to food and medical care. Kenjo said she had intended to give birth in a hospital but was unable to afford the costs after their home and their savings were destroyed in an airstrike.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, around 13,500 pregnant women are among those displaced in Lebanon, with more than 1,500 expected to give birth in the coming month, many without adequate maternal care.

When Kenjo went into labor on March 28, the family initially sought hospital treatment but could not raise the approximately $500 required for delivery. She returned to the tent, where a midwife assisted the birth under unsanitary conditions, using bottled water amid rain and mud.

The infant is showing signs of distress, including coughing and weakness, while access to infant formula remains limited. Kenjo said she has been unable to breastfeed, and the cost of formula exceeds her husband’s daily earnings.

Humanitarian volunteers have provided small quantities of aid, but supplies remain insufficient, reflecting broader shortages in displacement camps across the city.

The conflict, which has triggered mass displacement and strained Lebanon’s already fragile infrastructure, continues to disrupt access to essential services, leaving vulnerable populations including newborns and pregnant women at heightened risk.

Two Hamas officials said the delegation would press for an end to what it described as Israeli breaches and call for implementation of remaining provisions of the first phase of the agreement, which took effect in October and largely halted a two-year conflict in the enclave.

The group is expected to demand that Israel dismantle its military positions in Gaza, fully reopen border crossings, increase the movement of people, and allow greater volumes of humanitarian aid into the territory.

Hamas will also raise proposals for a U.S.-backed administrative body of Palestinian technocrats to assume governance responsibilities in Gaza, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

A second Hamas official said the delegation would meet other Palestinian factions in Cairo alongside Egyptian intermediaries to coordinate positions.

The ceasefire, brokered with support from Donald Trump, entered a second phase earlier this year, which includes provisions for Hamas disarmament, a gradual Israeli military withdrawal, and the deployment of a proposed 20,000-strong International Stabilization Force.

Hamas has indicated it may be willing to relinquish part of its arsenal, but only within the framework of a broader Palestinian political process.Despite the truce, violence has persisted.

Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli airstrikes killed seven people in a northern district on Saturday, while the Israeli military said it had targeted an armed militant cell near the so-called Yellow Line separating zones of control.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 749 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began, while the Israeli military has reported five soldiers killed in the same period.

The figures have not been independently verified due to restricted access to the territory.Both Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of breaching the ceasefire, raising concerns about its durability as negotiations continue.

Leiter said Israel had agreed to begin “formal peace negotiations” with the Lebanese government, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The talks are scheduled to open Tuesday at the U.S. State Department following contacts between Israeli and Lebanese representatives.“Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries,” Leiter said in a statement.

The position contrasts with calls from Lebanese authorities and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for a pause in hostilities ahead of negotiations. A report citing sources familiar with the discussions said Washington and Beirut had urged Israel to halt its attacks before talks begin.

Israel launched an intensified military campaign, including airstrikes and a ground offensive in Lebanon, after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in early March, in a move linked to broader regional tensions involving Iran.

Israeli officials have maintained that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon is separate from the ceasefire arrangement between the United States and Iran, with negotiations between those two countries set to take place in Islamabad.

In the absence of a ceasefire, discussions in Washington are expected to focus on measures Israel wants the Lebanese government to take, particularly regarding efforts to curb Hezbollah’s activities.

Lebanese authorities say the conflict has killed more than 1,950 people in recent weeks, including over 350 fatalities reported on Wednesday alone, marking one of the deadliest days since the escalation began.