Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Sunday he was working to stop Israel’s war on Hezbollah in his country even as Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu insisted to troops occupying south Lebanon that the war was far from over.
The health ministry said at least six people were killed Sunday in the south, including a Red Cross paramedic, after "the Israeli enemy directly targeted a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance team".
And the United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL said an Israeli tank rammed its vehicles on two occasions, "in one case causing significant damage".
Israel says the fragile temporary cease-fire in the wider Middle East war does not apply to its battle with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has kept up its attacks on the country as the militants fight back.
"We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands," Salam said in a speech on the eve of the anniversary of the start to the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
"We are continuing our efforts... to negotiate to stop the war," he added, ahead of planned talks on Tuesday in Washington between Lebanese, Israeli and U.S. officials.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader. Israel has responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion.
Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon, but added: "There is still more to do, and we are doing it."
"The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office, which showed him wearing a flak jacket and surrounded by masked soldiers.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that Israel wants to establish a "security zone" in south Lebanon to help prevent Hezbollah attacks.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli attacks on more than 30 locations in the south on Sunday, with additional strikes on the adjacent West Bekaa area.
The health ministry raised the war's overall toll to 2,055 dead, including 165 children and at least 87 health workers, since March 2.
It also said an Israeli strike on Qana killed five people, including three women, and wounded 25 others.
An AFP photographer in the southern town saw significant destruction as an excavator worked to clear debris and first responders carried a body out from under the rubble.
The health ministry vowed to "pursue international legal action to ensure accountability for these crimes" against emergency workers after the Red Cross paramedic was killed in a separate strike, a day after three other rescuers died in Israeli attacks.
In south Lebanon's Bazuriyeh, Hassan Berro, a rescue worker from the Risala Scout association -- which is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement -- said: "Our emergency centre was hit and completely destroyed, along with all its contents, including beds and medical equipment."
The AFP photographer saw windows shattered and debris covering several hospital beds in the building, where walls and ceilings were also damaged.
On Sunday, the Israeli army accused Hezbollah of using a hospital compound in south Lebanon's Bint Jbeil "for military purposes".
Hezbollah said it launched attacks on Israeli targets across the border and inside Lebanon, including against troops in Bint Jbeil, where the NNA reported heavy fighting.
Pope Leo XIV, who visited Lebanon late last year, expressed his closeness to the Lebanese people on Sunday and said there was a "moral obligation to protect the civilian population from the atrocious effects of war".
Commenting on the talks planned for next week, Netanyahu had said on Saturday that "we want the dismantling of Hezbollah's weapons, and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations".
