Amos Hochstein

At least 11 people were killed and four others injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said eight people lost their lives in a strike targeting the southern town of Maarakeh.

Four other people were injured, including one seriously, in the attack.

Israel is reportedly moving closer to a potential ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to reports by Reuters and Axios, which cited a senior Israeli official. However, Israel's public broadcaster Kan, quoting another Israeli official, reported that no final agreement had been reached, with some issues still unresolved.

The number of displaced people in Lebanon due to Israel-Hezbollah conflict has surged to nearly 1.9 million since last October, shows a report by the Lebanon's Council of Ministers.

Since Sept. 23, when Israel escalated its attacks, a total of 624,898 individuals—over 390,000 of Syrian origin—have crossed from Lebanon into Syrian territory in search of refuge, the report said.

At least 11 people lost their lives, and dozens more were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut early today, as diplomatic efforts to secure a truce intensified, according to the Associated Press. Rescuers are still searching through the rubble, and Lebanon's civil defense warned that the death toll could rise.

Hezbollah's leader delivered a defiant speech on Wednesday, saying Israel cannot impose conditions for a truce in Lebanon, as visiting U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein headed to Israel to try to negotiate an end to the war.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a near-simultaneous statement, said any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel still has the "freedom to act" against Hezbollah.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, underscoring the importance of Türkiye's role in advancing diplomatic solutions to pressing regional conflicts.

Hussein and Zahraa, 3, displaced Lebanese twins who fled with their parents from their village of Mais al-Jabal in south Lebanon amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play on a gun with a twisted barrel statute, symbolizing anti-violence, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo)

At least 10 strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, after the Israeli army issued orders for buildings in the Hezbollah stronghold to be evacuated.

The strikes come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met visiting U.S. officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon with the death toll mounting on both sides of the border.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security council meeting at 20:00 today, gathering his cabinet ministers and intelligence chiefs to discuss diplomatic efforts for a resolution to the conflict in Lebanon, reported Axios journalist Barak Ravid on X, citing two sources and Israeli med