Israel to hold direct talks with Lebanon but no ceasefire, Netanyahu says

The strikes on Thursday led to new evacuation warnings for residents in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on X that this included the Jnah area, which includes two major hospitals. "At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available to receive approximately 450 patients from the two hospitals (including 40 patients in the ICU), rendering their evacuation operationally unfeasible," he said.Among those being treated at the hospitals, Tedros added, were some of the 1,150 people that Lebanon's health ministry said were wounded in Wednesday's massive wave of Israeli strikes. At least 303 people were killed. Tedros also said that the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Health, which "hosts five shelters accommodating more than 5,000 people", is in the evacuation area.That ceasefire began with confusion over whether Lebanon, Israel's second front, was to be included. Iranian officials and mediators from Pakistan said it was, US and Israeli officials said clearly that it was not.Amid the confusion, the wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon – the heaviest since the conflict began six weeks ago – prompted Iran to declare that Israel was breaking the terms of the ceasefire, to once again halt passage of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and to threaten retaliatory strikes.Trump posted to Truth Social over ship traffic through the pivotal waterway, which typically sees 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passing through. Netanyahu's office said Israel "appreciates today's call by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarise Beirut". It said negotiations between the two countries would focus on "disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace relations between Israel and Lebanon". According to US outlet Axios, Netanyahu's statement came after he held calls with US President Donald Trump and White House envoy Steve Witkoff.The publication quoted a senior Israeli official who said the direct negotiations will begin next week in Washington.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier said that a ceasefire was "the only solution" to the situation in Lebanon.Aoun had called for direct negotiations with Israel a month ago as part of a proposal to end the escalating conflict with Hezbollah, while sharply criticising the Iran-backed group.The latest escalation in the decades-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted when the group fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening stages of the war, and in response to the near-daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon that have continued despite a ceasefire agreed in November 2024.More than 1,800 people have been killed, including at least 130 children, so far as a result of the war, the Lebanese health ministry says, without distinguishing combatants from civilians.