{"id":7367,"date":"2026-06-19T16:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/israel-continues-attacks-on-lebanon-despite-agreeing-to-ceasefire\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:35:36","slug":"israel-continues-attacks-on-lebanon-despite-agreeing-to-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/israel-continues-attacks-on-lebanon-despite-agreeing-to-ceasefire\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel continues attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Israel has continued to attack Lebanon after the new ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, raising fears that Tel Aviv is trying to wreck the fragile agreement tied to wider efforts to end Middle East hostilities.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, officials and diplomats from the United States and the Gulf separately told news agencies that the two sides agreed that a ceasefire would start at 4pm local time (1300GMT).<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/6\/19\/sudanese-journalist-denied-uk-visa-to-collect-prestigious-award\">Sudanese journalist denied UK visa to collect prestigious award<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/19\/israel-slams-eus-kallas-for-apartheid-comment-are-ties-unravelling\">Israel slams EU\u2019s Kallas for \u2018apartheid\u2019 comment: Are ties unravelling?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/19\/as-lebanon-tests-us-iran-deal-trump-must-rein-in-netanyahu-analysts-say\">As Lebanon tests US-Iran deal, Trump must rein in Netanyahu, analysts say<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Despite the ceasefire, at least 12 Israeli air raids and continual artillery shelling hit southern Lebanon after the deadline, according to reports from the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and Hezbollah reportedly \u201cagreed to halt hostilities\u201d after Qatar, the United States and Iran brokered the ceasefire, a Gulf diplomat told the AFP news agency, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. He said the ceasefire aimed to stop the escalation in Lebanon from derailing a broader push to turn the interim US-Iran agreement into a lasting regional peace deal.<\/p>\n<p>The Gulf diplomat told AFP the deal followed a dangerous surge in fighting that threatened negotiations over ending the war with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli military has killed at least <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/18\/israeli-attacks-on-southern-lebanon-kill-three-despite-us-iran-deal\">47 people<\/a> and wounded 97 others in attacks on Lebanon starting at midnight on Friday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly before the ceasefire began, a senior US official said that the agreement had been reached through US and Qatari mediation, with Iran\u2019s help. \u201cWe understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire,\u201d the official told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<p>A Hezbollah official told Al Jazeera the ceasefire would hold if Israel abided by it. A senior Israeli official and two Hezbollah sources also confirmed the ceasefire to Reuters. \u201cIf Hezbollah does not attack us, then for us it is not a time of war,\u201d \u2060\u2060the Israeli official said.<\/p>\n<p>But Israel\u2019s attacks continued almost immediately, leaving residents in southern Lebanon questioning whether the ceasefire had any meaning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel much like a ceasefire,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Heidi Pett, reporting from Tyre, after the Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead, there is a sense of deja vu. Each time a ceasefire is announced, we see a renewed burst of military activity on the ground,\u201d said Pett.<\/p>\n<p>An Israeli military spokesperson said on Friday that Israeli forces would retain \u201coperational freedom\u201d to respond to what they define as threats in southern Lebanon \u2013 language that effectively gives Israel room to keep striking despite the ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat has left many people here questioning what a ceasefire actually means,\u201d added Pett.<\/p>\n<h3>Israel seeking \u2018permanent war\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Israel\u2019s only interest is \u201cpermanent war\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He was responding on X to far-right Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called for Lebanon to be \u201cburned\u201d after four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>In a post on Friday, Araghchi said Ben-Gvir\u2019s comments were \u201cnot a rant by a random genocidal lunatic\u201d but \u201ca public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity,\u201d Araghchi wrote. \u201cIt threatens all humans. Its only interest is permanent war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ben-Gvir urged a massive escalation after the Israeli army announced the deaths of four soldiers in combat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit. All of Lebanon must burn,\u201d Ben-Gvir wrote on X earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<p>He added that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201ceven in our private meetings\u201d that \u201cfor every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough with the ping-pong. In the Middle East, you don\u2019t win with measured responses and restraint \u2013 you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror,\u201d Ben-Gvir said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"talks-on-us-iran-mou\">Talks on US-Iran MoU<\/h2>\n<p>Talks between the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/18\/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-us-iran-ceremony-in-switzerland\">US and Iran<\/a> to discuss the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) were called off on Friday after intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that the fighting in Lebanon must stop before talks can happen, three regional officials and a fourth person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>US Vice President JD Vance also postponed his trip.<\/p>\n<p>Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Friday that the necessary consultations are being carried out through mediators, and that if the conditions for starting negotiations are met, an official announcement will be made.<\/p>\n<p>He also said Washington bears direct responsibility for the current situation between Israel and Lebanon, pointing to Article 1 of the MoU signed on June 18, which explicitly states that ending the war in Lebanon is an integral part of the broader ceasefire arrangement across all fronts.<\/p>\n<p>Baghaei said Iran would take all necessary measures to safeguard its interests, security and the rights of its allies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel has continued to attack Lebanon after the new ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, raising fears that Tel Aviv is trying to wreck the fragile agreement tied to wider efforts to end Middle East hostilities. On Friday, officials and diplomats from the United States and the Gulf separately told news agencies that the two sides &#8230; <a title=\"Israel continues attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to ceasefire\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/israel-continues-attacks-on-lebanon-despite-agreeing-to-ceasefire\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Israel continues attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to ceasefire\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}