Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health announced on Friday that the fierce Israeli strikes that rocked the country on 8 April killed at least 303 people and wounded 1,150 others, which comes as a Hezbollah MP says the movement rejects any negotiations with Israel unless the bombardment stops first.
The death toll from Wednesday's massacre included at least 30 children, with rescue teams still working to retrieve bodies lying under the rubble and identify the dead at hospitals.
On Friday, Israel killed at least 12 state security personnel in Nabatieh, where the attack targeted a state security office, further fuelling outrage.
Hezbollah MP, Ali Fayyad, said that further negotiations for a full truce cannot take place unless Israel halts its onslaught on the country.
There was a "necessity of adhering to principles, foremost among them the Israeli withdrawal, the cessation of hostilities, and the return of the residents to their villages and towns", he added.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed that "the only solution to the situation Lebanon is facing is a ceasefire with Israel that would lead to direct negotiations between the two countries".
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that his cabinet will commence direct negotiations with Lebanon as strikes on Hezbollah continue.
"In light of Lebanon’s repeated appeals to open direct negotiations with Israel, I instructed the cabinet yesterday to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible," Netanyahu said.
Later, in a video address, Netanyahu emphasised that "there is no ceasefire in Lebanon", and that Israel was “continuing to strike Hezbollah with great force".
He vowed that the attacks would "not stop until we restore your security", despite the Lebanon attacks putting the US-Iran truce in jeopardy.
Local media confirmed that Israel was seeking negotiations while Lebanon was "under fire", while Hezbollah said late on Thursday that their fighters were still engaged in "direct clashes" with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil. Talks set to start An Israeli official told Israeli media that the negotiations on Lebanon were set to start "in the coming days", without elaborating further. Axios reported that the first meeting will take place next week at the US State Department in Washington.
Trump’s ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, will lead the US negotiating team, while Lebanon's ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh-Moawad will head the Lebanese delegation.
Another Israeli official said that the ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, will lead the Israeli group.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that an unnamed source in Israel’s security cabinet said that Lebanon would be required to fire Hezbollah’s government ministers as a trust-building exercise.
The broadcaster added that Israel believes an agreement can be reached before the next Israeli parliament elections, scheduled for October.
Netanyahu’s insistence on opening direct negotiations with Lebanon and disarming Hezbollah while continuing to target the country has raised serious concerns globally over the potential total collapse of the ceasefire with Iran.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon violated the ceasefire agreement and attacks on Lebanon would render further negotiations for a wider deal "meaningless".
"Our hands remain on the trigger. Iran will never forsake its Lebanese brothers and sisters," he wrote on social media platform X.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also insisted that Lebanon is covered by the truce.
International condemnation of Israel’s actions in Lebanon is mounting, with France and Pakistan being the latest to lambast the ceasefire violations.