Beirut reeled on Thursday after what Lebanon described as its deadliest day in the renewed war between Israel and Hezbollah, as recovery teams searched for survivors and hospitals identified bodies pulled from rubble. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the toll from the strikes that began on Wednesday exceeded 300 people, with 1,150 others wounded, including in busy parts of Beirut.
Against that backdrop, Israel made a surprise announcement authorizing direct talks with Lebanon, despite the two countries having no diplomatic ties. Netanyahu said the talks would focus on disarming Hezbollah and on “establishing peaceful relations” between Israel and Lebanon, and the announcement was met with no immediate response from Lebanon’s government or Hezbollah.
A person familiar with the plans said negotiations were expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington. The person said Washington would handle the talks through U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, while Israel would be represented by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Lebanese officials said preparation on the Beirut side was still underway. A Lebanese diplomatic official familiar with developments said Lebanon had not yet appointed someone to lead the talks from Beirut, and said President Joseph Aoun was keen for a temporary ceasefire when talks commence—timed in parallel with negotiations in the Iran war that the official said were being mediated by Pakistan and involving the United States and Iran.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon would respond through international channels, announcing it would file an urgent complaint with the U.N. Security Council and calling the strikes a “blatant violation” of international and humanitarian law. In a Cabinet session earlier Thursday, the Lebanese government also announced a plan to demilitarize Beirut and deploy larger numbers of security patrols.
As search-and-rescue continued, residents described the chaos of the strikes. Lebanese Civil Defense spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press that a wounded woman was found alive overnight in Ain Mreisseh and that a man was found alive in his collapsed apartment building in the southern suburbs. Syrians among the displaced and injured described losses and delays in finding relatives, including Mohammad Chehab, who said six of his 10 family members had been found dead and that search crews were continuing for the rest.
At hospitals, doctors described the scale of trauma. Dr. Mohamad El Zaatari, director of the Rafik Hariri Hospital, said it treated 45 wounded people, including 10 in intensive care, while Dr. Wael Jarrosh said Makassed hospital received about 70 wounded patients within 10 minutes of the blasts and reported additional deaths and critical cases. Rabee Koshok, describing a strike near Corniche al Mazraa, said, “I thought I was dead,” recalling that a flash of light hit his face and eyes and that someone “flying over” landed next to him, then was dead.
Israel’s military said it targeted Hezbollah sites and accused Hezbollah of moving out of its main areas of influence in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and blending into civilian areas. Netanyahu had said earlier that strikes would continue “with force, precision and determination,” and Israeli officials said the escalation followed Israel’s warning of further action and claims that it killed Hezbollah aide and nephew Ali Yusuf Harshi, the aide and nephew of Naim Kassem.
Lebanon’s statements and hospital accounts came as the wider conflict showed signs of intensifying pressure on civilians. Israel launched a ground invasion in the border region, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll reached 1,739 with 5,873 wounded. The AP also reported that the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria returned to service Thursday after five days, following an Israeli warning of plans to strike the crossing over alleged Hezbollah smuggling; Lebanese and Syrian authorities denied the claim, and more than 200,000 people were reported to have fled Lebanon into Syria since the war resumed.