{"id":124608,"date":"2026-04-23T09:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=124608"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:17:20","slug":"lebanon-israel-to-meet-today-as-truce-hangs-by-a-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>WASHINGTON(National Times)-  Lebanese and Israeli envoys are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993369\">\u00a0second round of talks<\/a>\u00a0aimed at extending a shaky ceasefire, even as a fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people, including a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lebanon hopes the US-mediated meeting will prolong the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1992354\">10-day ceasefire<\/a>, which is set to expire on Sunday, and pave the way for expanded negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut\u2019s envoy, Ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad, would seek an extension as well as a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in southern villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Lebanese official said Thursday\u2019s meeting would be focused on two main items: extending the ceasefire and exploring a date for negotiations beyond the ambassadorial level. Lebanon\u2019s position is that a ceasefire extension is a prerequisite for moving to the next phase, which would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend the meeting. Israel will be represented by its ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The talks come amid continued cross-border violence. An Israeli strike killed two people in a car in the southern Lebanese village of al-Tiri on Wednesday, Lebanon\u2019s state-run&nbsp;<em>National News Agency<\/em>&nbsp;reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hezbollah said it launched an attack drone at an Israeli artillery position in the south in response to what it called an Israeli violation of the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it had intercepted \u201ca hostile aircraft\u201d launched by Hezbollah toward Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Israeli military said it had killed two people who crossed its \u201cForward Defence Line\u201d in south Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, another Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Yohmor killed two more people,&nbsp;<em>NNA<\/em>&nbsp;and Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Separately, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon left one journalist dead and another trapped under rubble, with rescuers temporarily blocked from reaching her by ongoing Israeli fire, Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Journalist Amal Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near the town of al-Tayri when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike. Lebanese rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had suffered a head wound. When rescuers returned to help Khalil, the Israeli military dropped a sound grenade, blocking their access to the damaged building. Khalil later died of his wounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched a major offensive in the region, according to Lebanese authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Israel has seized a belt of territory at the border where its troops remain, saying it aims to create a buffer zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The diplomatic track in Washington has been accompanied by sharp rhetoric. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a speech, said Israel had taken a \u201chistoric decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years\u201d but also called Lebanon a \u201cfailed state\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI call on the Government of Lebanon: Let\u2019s work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory. This cooperation is needed by you even more than by us,\u201d Saar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lebanon\u2019s leading Druze politician, Walid Jumblatt, said on Tuesday that the most Lebanon could offer is an update to a 1949 armistice agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is against face-to-face negotiations, Jumblatt said there should be a clear agenda for talks that includes a withdrawal of Israeli troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON(National Times)- Lebanese and Israeli envoys are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a\u00a0second round of talks\u00a0aimed at extending a shaky ceasefire, even as a fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people, including a journalist. Lebanon hopes the US-mediated meeting will prolong the&nbsp;10-day ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON(National Times)- Lebanese and Israeli envoys are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a\u00a0second round of talks\u00a0aimed at extending a shaky ceasefire, even as a fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people, including a journalist. Lebanon hopes the US-mediated meeting will prolong the&nbsp;10-day ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T04:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T04:17:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-31-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/\",\"name\":\"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-31-3.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T04:17:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T04:17:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-31-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-31-3.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124608\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lebanon, Israel to meet today as truce hangs by a thread - Nation","og_description":"WASHINGTON(National Times)- Lebanese and Israeli envoys are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a\u00a0second round of talks\u00a0aimed at extending a shaky ceasefire, even as a fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people, including a journalist. 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