At least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Saturday according to an updated toll from the Lebanese health ministry, as the Lebanese government pushed to end the violence.
An earlier statement by the Emergency Operations Centre at the Ministry of Health said 14 civilians were killed in three separate attacks in south Lebanon on Saturday.
In the city of Nabatiyeh, the ministry says the final death toll of an Israeli attack was seven civilians, including four children, with five others wounded. In Haret Saida, in the coastal city of Sidon, four civilians were killed and two others were injured.
An airstrike on the village of Al-Qatrani in the Jezzine district killed three civilians and wounded six others, according to the ministry’s final tally.
A separate health ministry statement Saturday evening said an Israeli strike on the village of Mayfadoun in the Nabatiyeh district killed four civilians, including a child, and injured five others.
In Majdal Selm in the border district of Marjaayoun, one civilian was killed and two others were wounded in an attack.
According to local media, Israel also killed a commander in the Palestinian Hamas group in another attack in Sidon.
The health ministry said one person was killed in the Saturday evening strike while three children were injured. Local media said Hamas official Wissam Taha was killed in the strike on his apartment in Sharhabil, east of the city.
Palestinian figures in Lebanon have been targeted by the Israeli military after renewed fighting broke out between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group on 2 March, following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The US-Israeli war on Iran which began on 28 February has dragged most of the region into conflict.
The Israeli military claimed in a statement on Sunday that it was continuing to strike infrastructure used by Hezbollah throughout Lebanon.
It also said it destroyed "command centres" belonging to Hezbollah's Radwan Force south of Beirut.
Hezbollah said Sunday it was targeting several Israeli troop positions in villages close to the border.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 826 people and wounded more than 2,000 others since fighting with Hezbollah resumed.
Hezbollah’s renewed rocket fire against Israel after the killing of Khamenei came after a 15-month hiatus which saw Israel continue to violate a November 2024 ceasefire deal with near-daily attacks on Lebanon.
Israeli forces continued to occupy five positions in south Lebanon after the ceasefire agreement, but the number of these sites have grown since fighting resumed earlier this month, amid fears of a full-scale ground invasion that could see Israeli troops reach the Litani river.
In recent days, Israel has bombed several bridges connecting areas south of the Litani to the rest of southern Lebanon. Observers say this may be aimed at facilitating a possible ground invasion and hindering Hezbollah’s movements.
Israel has already issued evacuation orders for most of south Lebanon and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving over 800,000 people internally displaced and sheltering in schools and other facilities, renting homes, or living in street encampments.
'No French plan'
The Lebanese government has been pushing for an immediate ceasefire. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have announced they were ready to begin direct talks with Israel to end the war, but this has been rebuffed by Israel.
On Saturday, US news site Axios reported that France had drawn up a proposal to end the war, one that involved Lebanon recognising the state of Israel, but this was later denied by the French foreign ministry, which said that there was "no French plan" to stop the fighting.
"France has supported the Lebanese authorities' openness to direct talks with Israel and has offered to facilitate them," said a ministry statement sent to AFP.
"But it is for the parties, and only the parties, to set the agenda for these talks," it added.
A Lebanese official told AFP on Saturday that the country was preparing to form a delegation to negotiate with Israel but that there was no agenda, timing or location yet decided for any talks.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and he offered to host negotiations in Paris, warning that "everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos".