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Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had ordered his ministers to begin direct talks with Lebanon, pushing for Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament amid mounting concern that its ongoing strikes could cause the fragile US-Iran truce<\/a> to unravel.<\/p>\n A Lebanese government official told AFP<\/em> shortly after Netanyahu\u2019s announcement that Beirut \u201cwants a ceasefire\u201d declared before starting any negotiations with Israel, a day after deadly strikes<\/a> across the country.<\/p>\n At least 300 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the bombardment on Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said, while Hezbollah said it was engaged in close-quarters combat against Israeli forces on the ground on Thursday in the south Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil.<\/p>\n Netanyahu\u2019s order for direct negotiations with Lebanon\u2019s government was focused on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace, according to a statement from his office, but he offered no immediate respite from the bombardment.<\/p>\n \u201cLebanon wants a ceasefire before starting negotiations,\u201d said the Lebanese government official, who has knowledge of the matter and requested anonymity.<\/p>\n Even as Netanyahu spoke, Israel\u2019s military issued a new evacuation order for Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, just a day after the wave of strikes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn light of Lebanon\u2019s repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n \u201cNegotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace relations between Israel and Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Separately, US President Trump confirmed to NBC News<\/u><\/em><\/a> that he had asked Netanyahu to pull back on the strikes in Lebanon to help ensure the success of the upcoming negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cI spoke with Bibi (Netanyahu) and he\u2019s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said that the group rejected direct negotiations with Israel and that the Lebanese government should demand a ceasefire as a precondition before any further steps are taken.<\/p>\n Israeli assault on Lebanon, which the UN described as \u201ccarnage\u201d, has been condemned worldwide.<\/p>\n Brussels, Moscow and Ankara demanded that the US-Iran two-week ceasefire be extended to Lebanon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe view the situation in southern Lebanon with particular concern,\u201d Germany\u2019s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, echoing statements from Paris and London.<\/p>\n \u201cThe severity with which Israel is waging war there could cause the peace process as a whole to fail, and that must not be allowed to happen,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n For their part, Iran\u2019s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran sees Lebanon as an \u201cinseparable part of the ceasefire\u201d and President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel\u2019s strikes rendered \u201cmeaningless\u201d talks with US envoys planned for the end of the week<\/a> in Islamabad.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Hezbollah said it had fired rockets towards Israel in response to what it called a violation of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump claimed victory in the Middle East war after agreeing a two-week truce to allow talks between US and Iranian negotiators to end a conflict that has already killed thousands and plunged the global economy into turmoil \u2014 but both Israel and the US insist the fighting in Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are continuing to strike Hezbollah with force, precision and determination,\u201d Netanyahu said, in a social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cOur message is clear: anyone who acts against Israeli civilians, we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The day after the strikes, rescuers were still hard at work in the rubble of a building hit in the heart of a seafront residential neighbourhood of Beirut.<\/p>\n Half the building had collapsed, some rooms sliced in two by the deadly strike, a dining room and a water fountain exposed.<\/p>\n The other half of the building is nothing but a heap of stone and twisted metal, a school report card here, a law course from Saint Joseph University there, a child\u2019s stuffed toy.<\/p>\n According to the civil defence, several bodies are still under the rubble.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know where my niece is \u2026 the rescue teams have been working tirelessly since yesterday, but they haven\u2019t found her,\u201d Taha Qarqamaz told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n Another of his nieces died of her injuries in the hospital. Two more are in intensive care.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, these are school notebooks, class notes, books! Where is Hezbollah here? There is no Hezbollah in this neighbourhood!\u201d protested his friend, Khaled Salam.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2018Where is Hezbollah here?\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/a>High-stakes talks<\/h2>\n