Netanyahu says ceasefire excludes Lebanon. Then Israel drops 160 bombs

AMMAN, Jordan — Even as a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to be holding Wednesday, Israel insisted it would continue operations against Hezbollah as its warplanes carried out the largest wave of strikes on Lebanon since the start of the current round of hostilities with the Lebanese Shiite militant group.

In response to Israeli attacks, Iran has once again sealed off the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that is at the heart of the ceasefire agreement, Iranian state media reported.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement Wednesday welcoming the 14-day suspension of hostilities with Iran. But he added that the agreement did not include Hezbollah.

Israel has been engaged in an all-out war with Hezbollah since March 2, after the group launched missiles into northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, its longtime supporter, and in revenge for more than 10,000 violations of a ceasefire negotiated in November 2024.

Firefighters attempt to put out a fire following an Israeli strike on the Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood in Beirut on April 8.

(IBRAHIM AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu’s statement contradicted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who said the ceasefire would extend to Lebanon.

Just hours after Netanyahu’s statement, an armada of 50 Israeli warplanes dropped about 160 bombs on 100 targets in 10 minutes, according to the Israeli military, hitting Hezbollah-dominated areas in southern, eastern Lebanon and near the capital. Some neighborhoods in Beirut where Hezbollah is not present have also been affected.

The barrage, which took place shortly before 3 p.m. during rush hour, sparked widespread panic as motorists and pedestrians tried to escape the debris.

Amid the chaos triggered by the strikes, the Lebanese Red Cross said it had mobilized 100 ambulances to transport the wounded, while hospitals called for blood donations and urged all doctors to go to health centers to treat the injured.

Lebanese health authorities indicated that a preliminary toll showed 112 dead and more than 830 injured. Lebanon’s civil defense unit estimates the toll is significantly higher, with at least 250 people killed, including 92 in Beirut alone.

Safa Bleik, assistant medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said there was a “massive influx of wounded” at Rafik Hariri Hospital, Lebanon’s largest public hospital, after the Israeli strikes.

“Here in the emergency room we are receiving huge waves of injured people, including children,” Bleik said in an audio recording shared by the medical association on its social media account.

“People are coming in with shrapnel wounds and severe bleeding,” she said.

Before Wednesday’s attacks, Lebanese health authorities said more than 1,500 people had been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun blasted the latest Israeli attack, saying it added to the country’s “grim record.”

“These barbaric acts of aggression – which recognize no rights and respect no agreements or commitments – have repeatedly demonstrated total disregard for all international laws and norms,” Aoun said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes targeted “hundreds of Hezbollah members… in Lebanon’s headquarters, in the most concentrated blow.” He warned Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem that “his turn will come”.

Hezbollah condemned the attacks, adding in a statement that it had “the natural and legal right to resist the occupation and respond to its attacks.” But no missile launches from Lebanon towards Israel have been reported.

Israel’s decision places additional pressure on a fragile truce, already weakened by a lack of clarity over its conditions, execution and ultimate goal.

Hezbollah entered the war in support of Tehran with the aim of tying its fate to any ceasefire deal negotiated with its powerful benefactor. But Israeli officials say they will continue to strike Hezbollah until they can protect northern Israel from further attacks.

In a phone interview with Liz Landers of “PBS News Hour,” President Trump said the conflict between Israel and Lebanon was a “separate skirmish” from the war with Iran.

“Yeah, they [Lebanon] were not included in the agreement,” he said. When asked why, he replied that it was “because of Hezbollah.”

“They were not included in the agreement. That will also be settled. Everything is fine,” he said.

But Iran has said otherwise, with the country’s foreign ministry issuing a statement warning of “disastrous consequences” of Israel’s “criminal acts.”

“The cessation of hostilities in Lebanon is an integral part of the agreement with the United States,” the statement said, “and the crimes of the Zionist entity constitute a flagrant violation thereof.”

Israel’s campaign in Lebanon has triggered an exodus from the country’s south and other Hezbollah-dominated areas, forcing around 1.3 million people – mostly Shiites – to flee. Meanwhile, Israel warned Lebanon that anyone harboring displaced Shiites or allowing Hezbollah to operate in its areas would see its areas bombed.

This has strained Lebanon’s fragile sectarian balance, with some communities expelling displaced Shiites or not allowing them to come for fear of being targeted by Israel.

Israeli officials further heightened those fears on Wednesday, with Avichay Adraee, Israel’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson, accusing Hezbollah of moving beyond its traditional bastions of support in the capital’s southern suburbs and establishing a foothold in northern Beirut and mixed neighborhoods.

“To the Lebanese people: make no mistake: the destruction that Hezbollah has brought to the suburbs will move with it,” he said, adding that the group was spreading “destruction across Lebanon at your expense.”

“Don’t allow this; don’t allow Hezbollah to devastate you.”