By Simon Lewis, Steve Holland, Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 22 (Reuters) - U.S.

Lebanon’s health ministry says that Israeli strikes during the day killed 182 people, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The first direct negotiations between the two states since 1993 are intended as preparatory meetings to shape future talks on a deal to normalize ties between the countries. Thursday's meeting is expected to focus on extending a shaky ceasefire that has halted fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia,

By Ben Aris in Berlin Israel's military occupation of southern Lebanon is threatening to upend a landmark 2022 US-brokered maritime border agreement and derail Lebanon's best remaining hope of tapping its offshore gas wealth.

Israel's intense bombardment left Beirut to confront new devastation Thursday as the U.S. ally's assault on Lebanon imperiled the fragile ceasefire with Iran.

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into force at midnight local time, marking a pause in weeks of escalating

The deadly strikes on the Lebanese capital shattered neighborhoods where many people had taken refuge after being displaced by earlier Israeli bombardments.

At the doors of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the human cost of Israel’s weeks-long assault on Lebanon was etched onto the faces of desperate families waiting for news of their loved ones.

Israel isn’t just targeting Hezbollah in the latest war. It is also targeting the multireligious fabric of Lebanese society.