Lebanon says ceasefire must be in place before Israel talks

16 minutes agoRaffi BergandSamantha Granville,BeirutReutersIsrael has continued to attack sites across Lebanon, insisting it is not part of the Iran ceasefireA senior official in the Lebanese president's office has told the BBC that Lebanon will participate in direct negotiations with Israel next week only if there is a ceasefire in place beforehand.It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised direct talks following what he said were "repeated requests from the Lebanese government". A US State Department official said it would host a meeting next week in Washington "to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations" between the two countries.Israeli air strikes on Lebanon are continuing and the Lebanese health ministry said the death toll from Wednesday's massive wave of bombardment had risen to 357, with 1,223 people injured."The toll is still not final, due to the ongoing removal of rubble and the presence of a large amount of human remains" requiring DNA testing, the ministry said.The Israeli military said the wave of attacks across the country had killed "at least 180 Hezbollah terrorists".On Friday, Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said 13 state security personnel had been killed by strikes on the southern city of Nabatieh and condemned the continued attacks.Lebanese authorities said victims of the latest Israeli attacks also included seven members of the same family in the town of Abbassieh and 11 people in Zrarieh. A medical centre in Burj Qalaway was also hit, killing two people, while a drone strike targeted an ambulance in Toul, with no casualties reported.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck about 10 rocket launchers on Thursday night which it said had fired on northern Israel. It said it was continuing to locate and destroy more.Hezbollah has also fired more rockets at several places in Israel and also fired rockets overnight, triggering sirens across the country. One was fired at the southern coastal city of Ashdod - the furthest Hezbollah has targeted in the current fighting - but was intercepted, the IDF said.The group said it fired rockets at Kiryat Shmona, near the Israel-Lebanon border, at 10:00 (06:00 BST) on Friday, and Misgav Am in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel. There are no reports of casualties.It said it was acting in response to what it described as Israel's "violation" of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement.ReutersHezbollah has attacked Israel with rockets in the latest fighting since the beginning of MarchBut there is fierce dispute over whether Lebanon was included in the US-Iran ceasefire declared by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.But speaking in Budapest on Wednesday, US Vice-President JD Vance said "I ⁠think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn't."In a statement addressed to residents of northern Israel on Thursday night, Benjamin Netanyahu said there was "no ceasefire in Lebanon".He added that "after repeated requests from the Lebanese government to open peace negotiations with us, I instructed the cabinet last night to open direct negotiations with Lebanon in order to achieve two goals: One - disarming Hezbollah. And the second - a historic and sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon".Direct talks between Lebanon and Israel would be highly unusual, with the two countries historically communicating through intermediaries. Efforts to establish negotiations have been ongoing since a ceasefire agreement in November 2024, with US envoys previously mediating indirect talks between the two sides.In Beirut, rescue teams are continuing to recover bodies after the heaviest Israeli air strikes since the start of the latest fighting.Mohammad Hamoud's family owns a pharmacy in Ain el Mreisseh district of Beirut. He was at work in another part of town - also under Israeli bombardment - when he heard the pharmacy building had been hit."You cannot manage what happened, the number of bombs," Mohammad told the BBC. "In a very, very short period, complete damage everywhere. It was astonishing."Meanwhile, UN aid agencies are warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, with more than a million people displaced, and rising food costs.The World Food Programme (WFP) said that disrupted incomes and rising prices were causing a food security crisis. WFP was supporting thousands of families before the latest conflict, and now wants to increase that support. But it says delivering supplies, particularly to southern Lebanon, is increasingly complex, with convoys taking 15 hours to go even short distances.