Lebanon ceasefire unravels as Hezbollah rejects truce; Israeli strikes kill eight a day after announcement

Israeli airstrikes killed eight people in Lebanon on Thursday, according to the country's health ministry, a day after Lebanese and Israeli officials agreed to a new ceasefire framework aimed at ending months of cross-border fighting.

Five people were killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon, while another attack near the southern city of Tyre left three more dead. The ministry said eight others were wounded in the strikes, including three children and two women.

The attacks came shortly after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the newly announced truce proposal, insisting that any agreement must include a complete ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. He also warned that northern Israel would remain vulnerable to attacks if hostilities continued.

Hezbollah rejects conditional ceasefire proposal

Qassem's remarks followed an agreement reached by Lebanese and Israeli representatives in the United States on a conditional ceasefire plan on Wednesday. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had described the proposal as the "last chance" to secure a lasting end to the conflict.

However, Hezbollah dismissed the initiative and criticised ongoing contacts between Beirut and Tel Aviv. The group has also rejected the broader Israel-Lebanon talks, arguing that previous agreements have failed to stop the violence.

"The ceasefire must be comprehensive... without the Israeli enemy having the freedom to kill," Qassem said on Thursday, calling on the Lebanese government to end what he described as "the farce and humiliation called direct talks" with Israel.

He also warned that "as long as our villages are unsafe, being bombed, destroyed, and our people killed, the settlements (north Israel) are unsafe".

The latest ceasefire effort comes after a previous truce announced on April 17 was repeatedly violated. Israeli forces remain deployed in parts of southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah continues to launch attacks across the border.

Also Read: Israel and Lebanon agree to implement ceasefire following US-led talks in Washington

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would "at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations... without the return of the population, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure".

He added that Israeli forces retained the "freedom of action, with American backing, to strike in Beirut in response to fire on Israeli communities and territory".

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Captain Eitan Shmuel Lemberg, 21, was killed during combat operations in southern Lebanon. It was the first Israeli military fatality reported since the announcement of the latest ceasefire proposal.