Israel and Lebanon agree to extend ceasefire, US state department says

Israel has intensified its air and artillery strikes in recent days, particularly in southern Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure.Lebanon's health ministry has accused Israel of targeting civilians and paramedics, which Israel denies. The Israeli military says it is aiming to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to thwart future Hezbollah attacks. In those areas, entire villages have been destroyed in similar tactics deployed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Human rights groups say some cases could amount to war crimes, which Israel denies.Hezbollah has carried out its own attacks on Israeli troops in Lebanon and northern Israel with rockets and drones.Southern Lebanon is the heartland of the country's Shia community, from which Hezbollah gets most of its support, and has been under constant Israeli bombardment. More than one million people have been displaced across Lebanon, or one in five of the population, most of them from the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut known as Dahieh, areas where Hezbollah holds sway. The conflict started on 2 March, two days after the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran.