BEIRUT (AP) — The death toll in the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has surpassed 3,000, Lebanon's health ministry said Monday.
The ministry said the toll is now 3,020 in the fighting that has not stopped despite a fragile ceasefire, including 292 women and 211 children. Fighting began on March 2 with the Hezbollah militant group firing at Israel, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
Israel has since invaded southern Lebanon and bombarded the capital, Beirut, and other areas, saying it is targeting Hezbollah efforts to rearm. Hezbollah, also a powerful political entity in Lebanon, has resisted pressure, including by the Lebanese government, to disarm.
More than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the fighting, with some sheltering in tents along roads and the sea in Beirut. Israel, meanwhile, has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks.
Groundbreaking direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, facilitated by the United States, produced the ceasefire that began on April 17 and has been extended into June. The neighbors have been officially in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948.
Hezbollah, however, is not part of the talks.
Israeli officials have focused on disarming Hezbollah and described the negotiations as a precursor to a potential normalization of diplomatic relations. Lebanese officials have said they seek a security agreement or armistice that would stop short of normalization.
U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage — a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon, where talks with Israel were met with protests.
Twenty Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians inside Israel and a defense contractor working in southern Lebanon have been killed on the Israeli side.
U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon have also been caught in the crossfire and six have been killed.
