After Trump’s pause announcement, Israel launches deadliest strikes in Lebanon; Netanyahu seeks talks
Hours after President Donald Trump announced a two-week pause in fighting, Israel mounted its deadliest day of strikes in Lebanon since its operation against Hezbollah began more than a month ago, according to Lebanese authorities. Lebanon’s civil defense said the April 8 bombardment left the death toll surpassing 250 people and wounded hundreds more, including a dozen medics, Reuters reported.
The United Nations chief said he was deeply alarmed by the mounting toll on civilians. The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 targets across Beirut, the Beqaa and southern Lebanon, describing them as Hezbollah headquarters, military arrays and command-and-control centers.
As condemnation grew, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 9 that he had instructed his government to begin peace talks with Lebanon that would include a discussion about disarming Hezbollah. There was no immediate response from the Lebanese government to his remarks, according to Reuters.
The strikes unfolded amid a dispute over whether a recent ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran extends to Lebanon. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on April 9 that Israel’s barrage “blatantly violates the initial ceasefire” and vowed Iran will support the Lebanese people.
“The Iran-U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said as bombs hit Beirut on April 8. Israel has said the ceasefire agreement did not include its military operations against Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned militant group and political party in Lebanon.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance on April 8 called Iran’s interpretation a “misunderstanding,” saying the peace deal did not include Lebanon. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he “unequivocally condemns” the Israeli strikes on Lebanon and is “deeply alarmed by the mounting toll on civilians.” Travel disruptions have widened, with multiple airlines canceling flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut over the past two days.
Over the last month, more than a million people in Lebanon have been displaced and more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The latest escalation follows Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel after the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on Feb.
28 in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike. It marked the first time Hezbollah fired at Israel since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into effect in November 2024 during the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action.
Iran is Hezbollah’s most significant benefactor, and the group often acts as a proxy for Tehran. Hezbollah opposes Israel and often opposes Western powers operating in the Middle East, including the United States. Israel then launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon, which is believed to be the headquarters of Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it would indefinitely occupy a large section of southern Lebanon and has begun destroying homes in villages near the Israeli border. Israel occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. Since March 3, the Institute of the Study of War has recorded more than 800 strikes against Israel for which Hezbollah claimed responsibility, though they have not all been independently confirmed.
Israel has launched hundreds more strikes on Lebanon in the same period. The Israeli military says it has killed several Hezbollah leaders, destroyed over 300 Hezbollah sites, including weapons depots, and killed more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters. Diplomatic efforts continue as the United States and Iran hold talks over their ceasefire deal, even as cross-border hostilities intensify.
Netanyahu’s call for talks that would address Hezbollah’s disarmament drew no immediate response from Beirut, leaving the trajectory of the conflict uncertain.