WASHINGTON(National Times)- Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire US President Donald Trump declared on April 16, the US State Department announced on Friday.
If an extension was not agreed, the truce would have expired on Sunday.
“The April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress,” State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said. The State Department cast Israel-Lebanon talks, held in Washington on May 14 and 15, as “highly productive” and said the countries would reconvene negotiations on June 2 and 3.
Israeli forces have already killed more than 400 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect in the mid of April, according to Lebanese authorities.
This week’s talks were the sides’ third meeting since Israel intensified air attacks on Lebanon while claiming that Hezbollah had fired missiles first. Israel had widened its ground invasion into Lebanon’s south last month.
On the second day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington, Israeli strikes continued, leaving at least 37 people, including six hospital personnel, nine women and four children, wounded.
United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza condemned the “unacceptable” toll from continued attacks, saying that “diplomatic efforts now offer a critical opportunity to stop the violence”.
“The IDF has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.
An AFP correspondent reported strikes, two of them near the city of Tyre, while state media said another targeted a centre run by an NGO near a hospital.
Hafez Ramadan, a resident near the building targeted by the strike, said it had housed people who had fled their towns due to the war, and was adjacent to a hotel where more displaced were staying. “There are only women, children and the elderly here,” he said.
The Israeli army earlier issued evacuation warnings for five towns and villages in and around the southern coastal city. It later issued a new evacuation warning for five other towns in the south.
In a separate statement, the military said an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah since early March to 19.
Israeli forces claimed to have killed 220 Hezbollah members over the past week. Also, Hezbollah claimed a drone attack on the Israeli army’s brigade headquarters.
