Lebanon accuses Israel of rejecting truce after Beirut strikes

Lebanon's prime minister accused Israel of rejecting a ceasefire after the Israeli military bombed the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut for the first time this week on Friday.

At least 10 strikes hit the southern suburbs before dawn after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings, with AFPTV footage showing explosions and clouds of smoke.

"The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were levelled to the ground, in addition to the outbreak of fires," Lebanon's National News Agency reported, adding that strikes also targeted Aley, southeast of the capital, and Bint Jbeil in the country's south.

The Israeli military said it continued operations against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and its Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon, ahead of Tuesday's US presidential election.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the "expansion" of Israel's attacks, saying they signalled a refusal to engage in truce efforts.

"The Israeli enemy's renewed expansion... and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy's rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire," he said.

Afterwards, the NNA reported that Israeli warplanes conducted fresh strikes on the eastern city of Baalbek, home to UNESCO-designated Roman ruins.

On Thursday, strikes on Baalbek in eastern Lebanon left six dead, the news agency said, adding six others were killed in raids on Maqna.

- Ceasefire talks -

Analysts say Israel's campaign in Lebanon has put it in a position of strength to reach a deal.

On Thursday, Netanyahu told US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any deal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah must guarantee Israel's long-term security. The pair have since left for Washington, said a source familiar with the matter.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who also met the Americans, emphasised "security arrangements" related to Lebanon and efforts to ensure the return of 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

A US-brokered plan reportedly under consideration would see Hezbollah withdraw 30 kilometres (20 miles) north to the northern side of the Litani river, with Israeli forces pulling back and the Lebanese army, supported by UN peacekeepers, taking over the border.

Lebanon would be responsible for preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself with imported weapons, and Israel would retain its rights under international law to act in self-defence.

Cross-border fire from Lebanon killed seven Israelis on Thursday, including four Thai nationals.

Since fighting in Lebanon escalated on September 23, after nearly a year of tit-for-tat exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas, the war has killed at least 1,829 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.

Israel's military says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

The World Health Organization expressed deep concern about Israeli attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Lebanon, stressing they are "not a target".

- Gaza talks -

Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem -- who took over after Israel killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah -- has not explicitly linked a Lebanon ceasefire to an end to fighting in Gaza, the group's previous position.

"If the Israelis decide that they want to stop the aggression, we say we accept, but under the conditions that we see as appropriate and suitable," he said this week in his first speech as leader.

On the ground in north Gaza, the Israeli military said it "eliminated" dozens of militants in Jabalia.

The Gaza health ministry reported at least nine killed in overnight strikes on Jabalia and Nuseirat, adding people were still under the rubble.

"The morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah is full" of bodies, mostly women and children "following the massacres committed by the occupation" in Nuseirat, said Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals.

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have long been trying to secure a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Israel's war in Gaza.

Mediators seeking to broker a ceasefire are expected to propose a truce of "less than a month" to the Palestinian group Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks has told AFP.

The proposal involves exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to the territory, the source added.

But on Thursday, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu reiterated that the group rejected a short-term pause.

"Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary one," Nunu said.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel last year triggered the war and resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground war have killed 43,259 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the health ministry, figures the United Nations considers reliable.

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