WASHINGTON: Lebanon and Israel held new peace talks in Washington on Thursday, as their latest ceasefire — considered to still be in place despite hundreds of deaths in Israeli strikes — nears its end.

Israel’s military said it was striking Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon on Thursday after warning residents of several towns and villages there and in the country’s east to evacuate. It also said a Hezbollah drone fell in Israeli territory, wounding several civilians.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on the south and east, including in areas not covered by the warning, a day after the health ministry said intense raids killed 22 people, eight of them children.

One diplomat privy to the two-day talks in Washington said discussions started just after 9am at the State Department. Lebanese and Israeli representatives last met on April 23 at the White House, where US President Donald Trump announced a three-week ceasefire extension and voiced optimism for a groundbreaking agreement between the countries, which have technically been at war for decades.

Trump at the time made the bold prediction that during the three-week extension he would welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to Washington for a historic first summit between the countries.

The summit did not happen, with Aoun saying a security deal and an end to Israeli attacks were needed before such a landmark meeting.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar on Thursday reiterated his group’s rejection of the direct talks, saying they amounted to “free concessions” to Israel. The ceasefire, which began on April 17, lasts through Sunday.

A Lebanese official said that the country would seek “the consolidation of the ceasefire” during the talks in Washington. “The first thing is to put an end to the death and destruction,” the official said.