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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is ready to hold direct talks with Lebanon, a day after Israeli attacks on its northern neighbour killed hundreds of people on the deadliest day of the ongoing round of fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of Lebanon\u2019s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with \u2060Israel, I instructed \u2060the cabinet yesterday to start direct negotiations with Lebanon \u2060as soon as \u2060possible,\u201d Netanyahu\u2019s office wrote \u2060in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cThe negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah \u200cand establishing peaceful relations between Israel and \u200cLebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement comes a day after Israeli attacks across Lebanon<\/a> killed more than 250 people in a series of devastating strikes that have threatened to undermine a United States-Iran ceasefire.<\/p>\n Israel and the US have said Lebanon was not included in the US-Iran two-week truce, which aims to allow for negotiations on ending their more than monthlong war. Iran and mediator Pakistan have said Lebanon was included in the ceasefire, and several international leaders have called for Lebanon to be included.<\/p>\n Shortly before Netanyahu\u2019s surprise announcement about potential talks, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he \u2060was working on a diplomatic track on this matter that was starting to be seen \u201cpositively\u201d by international actors.<\/p>\n And Lebanon\u2019s cabinet instructed security forces to restrict weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, in a warning to the armed group Hezbollah.<\/p>\n \u201cThe army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolise weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,\u201d Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said at the end of a cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n Hours before opening the way for talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah \u201cwith force, precision and determination\u201d.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s civil defence said at least 254 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded on Wednesday in Israeli strikes in central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon, with Salam declaring Thursday a \u201cnational day of mourning\u201d for those killed.<\/p>\n But Israel continued its bombardment overnight and into Thursday, saying it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese armed group.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Lebanon\u2019s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday that the Israeli army targeted the centre of Bint Jbeil city with heavy artillery shelling.<\/p>\n At the same time, Hezbollah has announced at least 20 operations against Israel and said it had targeted Israeli vehicles on Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera\u2019s Malcolm Webb said the Israeli army had issued new forced evacuation orders for the capital\u2019s southern suburbs in advance of an attack.<\/p>\n \u201c[This is an] area where thousands of people had initially fled, so this will force people to be on the move once again, looking yet again for somewhere safe to go to avoid the kind of destruction we can see here at one of the sites in central Beirut that was hit just over 24 hours ago in that wave of bombings across the city,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n Since the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict began on March 2, Israel has issued evacuation orders for about 15 percent of Lebanese territory, displacing more than 1.2 million people, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n As Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon, concerns are growing about the effect it could have on the originally fragile deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since Wednesday, Iran has argued that attacks in Lebanon violate the ceasefire deal, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying on Thursday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon would render negotiations meaningless, adding that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.<\/p>\n However, the US has said Lebanon is not covered by the truce, despite Pakistan, which acted as mediator, saying it was part of the deal.<\/p>\n Other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Turkiye, have said the truce should extend to Lebanon.<\/p>\n Delegations from the US and Iran are expected to meet in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday for talks<\/a> on ending the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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