The US embassy in Lebanon on Thursday urged a meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leaders as the health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south killed at least 17 people despite an ongoing ceasefire.
Israeli and Lebanese representatives this month have met twice in Washington -- the first such meetings in decades -- after Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, sparking heavy Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.
After the first talks, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon that began on April 17, and a three-week extension after the second round.
Trump has said he hopes to host Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "over the next couple of weeks" as the two countries prepare for direct negotiations.
The planned negotiations have caused a rift in Lebanon, with Hezbollah rejecting direct negotiations as well as Beirut's previous commitment to disarm it.
"Lebanon stands at a crossroads. Its people have a historic opportunity to reclaim their country and shape their future as a truly sovereign, independent nation," the embassy said, adding that "the time for hesitation is over".
A direct meeting between Aoun and Netanyahu, "facilitated by President Trump, would give Lebanon the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory -- guaranteed by the United States," the statement added.
- 'Violations' -
On Wednesday, Aoun said Israel "must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations... Israeli attacks cannot continue as they are."
"We are now waiting for the United States to set a date to begin direct negotiations" with Israel, he said.
Israel has kept up deadly strikes on Lebanon despite the truce, and its soldiers are operating inside a "Yellow Line" running some 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes in the south killed 17 people on Thursday, including five women and two children, while the army said another strike killed one of its soldiers.
Israel's army also said one of its soldiers had been killed in south Lebanon.
Aoun on Thursday slammed "continuing Israeli violations" in the country's south.
Speaking to a delegation from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, he said these were occurring "despite the ceasefire, as do demolitions of homes and places of worship, while the number of killed and wounded rises".
"Pressure must be exerted on Israel to ensure it respects international laws and conventions and ceases targeting civilians, paramedics, civil defense, and humanitarian health and relief organizations," Aoun said, on a day when three civil defense personnel killed by Israel were buried.
- 'Will not surrender' -
The NNA reported multiple Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday, while an Israeli army spokesperson called for the evacuation of more than 20 southern villages.
Hezbollah claimed 10 attacks on Israeli army targets in south Lebanon, including tanks and soldiers.
In Beirut, dozens of southern Lebanon residents and local officials gathered to protest Israel's ongoing destruction of their villages.
Protester Hanaa Ibrahim, 48, told AFP that "we will not surrender and will not normalize" relations with Israel.
The text of the ceasefire, published by the US State Department, grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".
Hezbollah rejects that language, saying it was never presented to Lebanon's cabinet, in which members of the group are represented.
On Wednesday, Aoun had said the wording "is the same text that was adopted in November 2024" as part of the ceasefire agreement ending the last war, adding that "all parties" at the time had agreed to the text.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, called Aoun's remarks "inaccurate, to say the least, and this also applies to the November 2024 agreement".
