BEIRUT (AP) 鈥� Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, and the militant group demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as more fighting there hampered efforts to end the
The Hezbollah announcement came as Israeli strikes killed at least four people, according to local authorities, and a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on TV, called the negotiations 鈥渁bsurd, humiliating and insulting.鈥� He said the agreement鈥檚 demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean 鈥渟urrender, defeat and achieving the enemy鈥檚 goals.鈥�
鈥淲hat we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel鈥檚 withdrawal,鈥� he said, underscoring that Hezbollah has not made any commitment to stop fighting. 鈥淪o long as our villages are not safe and are being bombed and destroyed and our people are killed,” he said, northern Israel 鈥渨ill not be safe.鈥�
The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized , threatens efforts to end the and reopen the , a key transit point for oil and gas. Its closure has .
Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister , who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel鈥檚 offensive until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
U.S. President , who faced on Wednesday, has sought to downplay the diplomatic deadlock and the failure of declared ceasefires to end the fighting. He told reporters that in the Middle East that “a ceasefire is when you鈥檙e shooting in a more moderate manner.鈥�
Peacekeeper killed in crossfire
A Serbian peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded when a mortar struck their location near Marjayoun, a Christian-majority town that has seen intense fighting, according to , known as UNIFIL, and the Serbian Defense Ministry.
Israel later blamed Hezbollah for the firing that killed the U.N. peacekeeper, without offering evidence. Hezbollah and the U.N. did not immediately comment on who launched the shells.
Lebanon鈥檚 state-run National News Agency said a drone strike killed a motorcyclist and wounded four people in the village of Maaroub. It said airstrikes on the village of Sohmor in the Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon, killed three people and wounded others. It also reported airstrikes elsewhere in the south.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has warned people not to go into parts of southern Lebanon where it says it is striking Hezbollah facilities.
Fighting has raged despite declared ceasefires
Hezbollah resumed rocket fire days after Israel and the United States launched their on Iran, which backs Hezbollah. Before then, Israel had regularly carried out strikes in Lebanon against what it said were militant targets, often killing civilians, despite an earlier truce reached in 2024.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military鈥檚 chief of staff, acknowledged Thursday that the ongoing war was straining northern Israeli towns living under the threat of Hezbollah fire. He said Israel’s operations in Iran and Lebanon had 鈥渃reated a new security reality,鈥� by weakening Iran and Hezbollah 鈥渢o an unprecedented degree.鈥�
After Hezbollah’s rocket and drone attacks resumed, Israeli troops seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing than at any time since the end of Israel鈥檚 1982-2000 occupation.
In the southern city of Sidon, residents reacted to Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement with skepticism, saying previous agreements had failed to stop the violence.
鈥淓very few days a ceasefire is announced, but people keep getting killed,鈥� said Mayada Hijazi.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all talk and no action,鈥� said Salah Nassab. 鈥淲e keep going back to our homes, and then we get displaced again, back and forth. We鈥檙e very tired.”
have been killed in Lebanon, and over 1.2 million have been displaced. The fighting has killed 27 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
The ceasefire came from ongoing Israeli-Lebanese talks
The latest declared ceasefire came about through between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities.
The calls for Lebanon’s armed forces to take control of security zones in Lebanon from which the militants would be banned.
on Thursday called the new agreement “the last chance to enter a final and comprehensive ceasefire.鈥� He said Lebanon was ready to implement Wednesday’s deal once he receives responses from relevant factions in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. The United States 鈥� and Trump himself 鈥� would determine how and when the deal is implemented, Aoun told journalists.
The agreement terms Hezbollah 鈥渁n enemy” of Israel, the U.S. and Lebanon and calls for dismantling it. The government has promised to do so in the past but does not have the capabilities to disarm Hezbollah by force.
The latest agreement did not say when Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon but said the U.S. would support the Lebanese army as it works to assert control in areas where Hezbollah has long wielded power.
Iran has demanded a durable Lebanon ceasefire
A top Iranian general on Thursday reiterated Tehran’s demand for a full ceasefire in Lebanon and called for Israel to pull troops back to where they were when the wider war began. At that time, Israel held five strategic points along the border.
鈥淪upporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all of us, and eliminating Israel from the region is an achievable goal for Muslims,鈥� Esmail Qaani, the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard鈥檚 elite Quds Force, was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.
As diplomatic efforts have repeatedly faltered, Iran and the U.S. and around the , which remains effectively closed. Before the war, around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, as well as large shipments of fertilizer and other goods, passed through the narrow waterway.
The U.S. has targeted what it says are Iranian threats to commercial shipping and its own forces, while Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on Gulf states hosting U.S. troops.
___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Malak Harb in Beirut contributed to this report.
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