Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will continue its attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the Times of Israel reports.
Netanyahu addressed the residents of northern Israel in a video message after his office announced that Israel would soon hold direct talks with Lebanon.
"There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. We continue to attack Hezbollah with great force and we will not stop until we restore your security," Netanyahu said.
Iranian authorities insist that the recently declared ceasefire with the US and Israel also applies to the Lebanese Hezbollah, which it supports.
Netanyahu said in the message that Israel's "significant achievements" in the war with Iran had led to changes in relations with countries with which Israel had not previously had relations.
He added that direct talks with Lebanon would aim to disarm Hezbollah and "a historic and sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon."
(BETA)
The US State Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire talks between Israel and Lebanon, a State Department official said, according to Reuters.
Operational activities have been suspended at several energy facilities in Saudi Arabia due to recent attacks, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported, citing an official source from the energy ministry.
A Saudi Arabian national from the ranks of the industrial security of a Saudi energy company was killed in the attacks, SPA added, as reported by Reuters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezizian that the upcoming talks between the United States and Iran must be used to the fullest extent possible to achieve lasting peace, Erdogan's office said.
Erdogan reportedly said that it was crucial not to give an opportunity to those who seek to undermine the process, and that Turkey was ready to assist in the new process in every way, Reuters reports.
Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said the group rejects direct negotiations with Israel and that the Lebanese government should demand a ceasefire as a precondition before taking any further steps, Reuters reported.
Fayyad said that the Lebanese government's position should also prioritize the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory and the return of displaced people to their homes.
Iran will take management of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to a new stage, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried by state television.
"Iran does not seek war, but it will not give up its rights and considers all resistance fronts as a single entity," Khamenei said, according to Reuters.
Central banks must be prepared to tighten monetary policy to avoid an inflationary spiral if war-induced energy price shocks continue, but they must also monitor weakening demand, which would argue against raising interest rates, said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli attacks across the country the previous day had risen to 303 people.
They note that this number is not final and is expected to increase further as rescue teams continue to pull bodies from under the rubble, Reuters reports.
The ministry added that a total of 1.888 people have been killed since March 2, while more than 6.000 have been injured.
European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon at an informal meeting of the EU MED9 group in Croatia and called for a ceasefire, Reuters reports.
Another participant in the meeting of foreign ministers and state secretaries of nine Mediterranean countries, Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, also called on all parties to stop the violence in the Middle East.
Lebanon has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire in the past 24 hours to allow for broader talks with Israel, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters, saying it would be a “separate track but on the same model” as the fragile ceasefire brokered by Pakistan between the US and Iran.
The official said that the date and location have not yet been set, but that Lebanon needs Washington as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement, Reuters reports.
The official spoke to the agency after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had ordered the start of direct negotiations with Lebanon "as soon as possible."
NATO would be ready to play a role in a possible mission in the Strait of Hormuz, if it is able to do so, said the military alliance's Secretary General, Mark Rutte.
"If NATO can help, then there is clearly no reason why it should not be helpful," Rutte said during a speech in Washington, according to Reuters.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that alliance members were doing everything US President Donald Trump had asked them to do to strengthen the military alliance, although some were initially "a bit slow" to provide support to the United States amid its war with Iran.
"When it came time to provide the logistical and other support that the United States needed in Iran, some allies were, to put it mildly, a bit slow. To be fair, they were also a bit surprised. In order to maintain the element of surprise for the initial strikes, President Trump decided not to inform allies in advance," Rutte said during a speech in Washington, as reported by Reuters.
"But what I see today, when I look across Europe, is that the allies are providing tremendous support," he added. "Almost without exception, the allies are doing everything the United States is asking. They have heard President Trump's requests and are responding to them."
Rutte's comments came after a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. He informed some capitals that Trump wanted concrete commitments in the next few days to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon, which would include the disarmament of Hezbollah, Reuters reports.
"In light of Lebanon's repeated requests to open direct negotiations with Israel, yesterday I instructed the government to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible," Netanyahu said in a statement. "The negotiations will be aimed at disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon."
Some hospitals in Lebanon could run out of life-saving trauma kits in just a few days, as supplies are rapidly depleting after a high number of casualties in massive Israeli attacks over the past day, the World Health Organization said.
Life-saving critical injury kits include bandages, antibiotics and anesthetics to treat patients who have sustained war-related injuries, according to the WHO.
"Some trauma supplies are already running low and we could run out of them in a few days," Dr Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.
Israel bombed new targets in Lebanon today, after more than 250 people were killed and more than 1.000 were wounded on Wednesday in the largest attacks of the war on the neighboring country.
"If we have another mass influx of injured people, like what happened yesterday, it will be a disaster," Abubakar said, according to Reuters.
"We're probably going to lose more lives just because we don't have enough supplies," he added.
The shortages of trauma kits have been caused by a sharp increase in the number of casualties in recent days — most of whom are civilians — with supplies expected to last about three weeks being used up in just one day, Abubakar said.
Costs are rising rapidly
Medicines to treat patients with chronic diseases, such as insulin for diabetics, could also run out within weeks after supply chains were disrupted by the Gulf war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Abubakar said.
The cost of delivering medical supplies to Lebanon has tripled, while the WHO is also facing limited funding, he added.
The WHO said it and the Lebanese Ministry of Health planned to transfer supplies between hospitals to avoid a complete depletion of supplies, but warned that the health system was being stretched to its limits.
According to the United Nations, more than a million people have been displaced across Lebanon since the conflict began on March 2, following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said he represents a proud nation that seeks to preserve world order, rejecting US President Donald Trump's latest comments about the Arctic island.
Trump expressed frustration with NATO on Wednesday, as relations fell into crisis over the war with Iran, saying the military alliance was not there when it was needed and that he still remembers Greenland, a "big, poorly managed piece of ice."
"It is important for us to preserve the international community that we built after World War II, in which we have a defense alliance that we respect and in which international law is respected by all parties," Nielsen told Reuters.
"That is now being called into question and I think all allies need to stand together to preserve that. I hope that will happen," he said.
NATO allies were already trying to find ways to keep the alliance together earlier this year after Trump renewed his push to take Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark.
Nielsen today rejected Trump's characterization of her country.
"We are not some piece of ice. We are a proud nation of 57.000 people, working every day as a good global citizen, with full respect for all our allies," he said, according to Reuters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attack on Lebanon and called for an immediate ceasefire, Reuters reports.
They stated that such aggressive moves threaten to jeopardize the ongoing negotiation process and carry the risk of further escalation in the region.
Israel on Wednesday carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the outbreak of conflict with Hezbollah last month, killing more than 250 people, after the Iran-linked group resumed rocket attacks on northern Israel after a brief pause during a two-week truce between the United States and Iran.
The United States condemned the attack on the Kuwaiti consulate in Basra on April 7, the State Department said in a post on the X network.
The US calls on the Iraqi government to "hold accountable and dismantle the Iranian-aligned Iraqi terrorist groups that carried out this attack," the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs said.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte informed some countries on Monday that US President Donald Trump wants concrete support in the next few days to secure the Strait of Hormuz, two European diplomats told Reuters.
Rutte met with Trump in Washington yesterday, amid tensions within the alliance over the war in Iran.
"We see frustration in Washington, but they didn't consult their allies either before or after this war started," said one diplomat.
"NATO as such would not play a role in a war against Iran, but the allies want to be helpful in seeking longer-term solutions for Hormuz. Given that negotiations with Iran are still ongoing, this could be helpful," the diplomat added.
The US president has repeatedly called NATO a "paper tiger" and in recent weeks has threatened to withdraw from the alliance, claiming that Washington's European allies rely on American security guarantees and have not provided adequate support for the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
Although Trump said on Tuesday that attacks on Iran would be halted during a two-week ceasefire, the fallout from the conflict continues to strain relations.
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Iraqi President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon, especially on the capital Beirut and its suburbs.
In a telephone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun, he conveyed the solidarity of the Iraqi people with the Lebanese people and supported Lebanon's efforts to stop the escalation, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Despite a two-week ceasefire in the region, Israel bombed Lebanon yesterday.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that in a phone conversation he encouraged US President Donald Trump to urgently resume negotiations with Iran.
Merz also stated that Germany is re-establishing direct talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran, and said that he does not want the collapse of NATO, which, as he said, is a guarantor of security in Europe, Reuters reports.
Speaking about the economic consequences of the crisis, Merc warned that oil prices could rise further from February levels.
At the same time, he stressed that there are no plans to limit the use of bases in Germany by US forces.
Merz added that he was convinced that Trump's intention was not to destroy a civilization, which is what the US president threatened Iran with if a ceasefire agreement was not reached.
The Chancellor also said that he had told Trump again that, after a peace agreement, they would be ready to contribute to securing the Strait of Hormuz within the framework of an international mandate.
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