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Israel\u2019s devastating bombardment of Lebanon<\/a> in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce.<\/p>\n More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing, including strikes with heavy munitions on densely populated areas<\/a>, which drew outrage from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Lebanon was not included in the Tuesday night ceasefire agreed by Donald Trump, and vowed the Israeli military would continue to strike Hezbollah targets \u201cwherever necessary\u201d. The Israeli prime minister said his forces had killed the secretary to Hezbollah\u2019s leader, Naim Qassem.<\/p>\n The US vice-president, JD Vance, backed Netanyahu, claiming the US had never agreed to the inclusion of Lebanon in the truce.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding,\u201d Vance said. He is expected to lead a US delegation to Pakistan<\/a> for talks on Saturday to try to salvage the ceasefire and turn it into a more durable peace agreement.<\/p>\n However, Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that further Israeli strikes on Lebanon would render negotiations \u201cmeaningless\u201d. Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people, he said.<\/p>\n Pakistan, which led the efforts to broker a ceasefire after Trump threatened a civilisation-ending onslaught, has said Lebanon had been part of the agreement.<\/p>\n Robert Malley, a former American envoy who led earlier US-Iranian negotiations, said: \u201cI would trust the Pakistani mediator that Lebanon was included. They put out a statement that it was included and we did not hear any American correct the Pakistani version for many hours.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like a case of the US reneging and giving the Israeli prime minister [permission] to go ahead [with bombing] for another 24 hours before they are \u2018restrained\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Malley said the best-case scenario for peace talks in Pakistan was that the region was returned to the status quo before the US-Israeli attacks began on 28 February, with the strait of Hormuz open, and options for limiting Iran\u2019s nuclear programme on the table along with some form of financial compensation for Tehran.<\/p>\n Authorities in Islamabad began implementing strict security measures in anticipation of the arrival of delegations for talks, expected to begin on Saturday.<\/p>\n As the future of the ceasefire looked in peril<\/a>, Trump issued his latest ultimatum on social media, vowing a return to US attacks (as he put it, the \u201cShootin\u2019 Starts\u201d) if Iran failed to comply with \u201cthe real agreement\u201d. He made clear that Tehran had to reopen the strait of Hormuz fully to international shipping, and that it should have \u201cno nuclear weapons\u201d. He did not mention Lebanon.<\/p>\n US allies have insisted the ceasefire should be comprehensive. A joint statement by the UK, EU countries, Canada and Japan called on \u201call sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon\u201d, where Israel is seeking to destroy the Iranian-backed Hezbollah<\/a> movement.<\/p>\n Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, said on Thursday: \u201cHezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel\u2019s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cIsraeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence.\u201d<\/p>\n France\u2019s foreign minister, Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, condemned the Israeli strikes as \u201cunacceptable\u201d and his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, described them<\/a> as \u201cdeeply damaging\u201d, adding that failure to include Lebanon in the ceasefire would \u201cdestabilise the whole region\u201d.<\/p>\n Diplomatic efforts worldwide have focused on reopening the strait of Hormuz, the gateway to a fifth of the global flow of oil and liquefied natural gas.<\/p>\n Only 11 ships \u2013 four Iranian, four Greek, one Chinese, one Omani and one unknown \u2013 were allowed to pass through the Hormuz strait in the 24 hours after the ceasefire, less than a tenth of the prewar flow.<\/p>\n About 1,400 ships remain anchored in the Gulf, trapped first by the war then the uncertainty that has accompanied the vague and shaky truce. After an initial plunge in the global oil price following the announcement of the ceasefire, it began to creep up again<\/a> towards $100 a barrel on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n