WASHINGTON
\nIsrael and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire US President Donald Trump declared on April 16, the US State Depa\u00adrtment announced on Friday.
\nIf an extension was not agreed, the truce would have expired on Sunday.
\n\u201cThe April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress,\u201d State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said. The State Department cast Israel-Lebanon talks, held in Washington on May 14 and 15, as \u201chighly productive\u201d and said the countries would reconvene negotiations on June 2 and 3.
\nIsraeli forces have already killed more than 400 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect in the mid of April, according to Lebanese authorities.
\nThis week\u2019s talks were the sides\u2019 third meeting since Israel intensified air attacks on Lebanon while claiming that Hezbollah had fired missiles first. Israel had widened its ground invasion into Lebanon\u2019s south last month. On the second day of Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington, Israeli strikes continued, leaving at least 37 people, including six hospital personnel, nine women and four children, wounded.
\nUnited Nations humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza condemned the \u201cunacceptable\u201d toll from continued attacks, saying that \u201cdiplomatic efforts now offer a critical opportunity to stop the violence\u201d.
\n\u201cThe IDF has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon,\u201d the Israeli military said.
\nAn AFP correspondent reported strikes, two of them near the city of Tyre, while state media said another targeted a centre run by an NGO near a hospital.
\nHafez Ramadan, a resident near the building targeted by the strike, said it had housed people who had fled their towns due to the war, and was adjacent to a hotel where more displaced were staying. \u201cThere are only women, children and the elderly here,\u201d he said.
\nThe Israeli army earlier issued evacuation warnings for five towns and villages in and around the southern coastal city. It later issued a new evacuation warning for five other towns in the south.
\nIn a separate statement, the military said an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah since early March to 19.
\nIsraeli forces claimed to have killed 220 Hezbollah members over the past week. Also, Hezbollah claimed a drone attack on the Israeli army\u2019s brigade headquarters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire US President Donald Trump declared on April 16, the US State Depa\u00adrtment announced on Friday. If an extension was not agreed, the truce would have expired on Sunday. \u201cThe April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n