After two days of intensive diplomatic negotiations hosted in Washington D.C., Israel and Lebanon have formally agreed to extend their fragile existing ceasefire for an additional 45 days, the U.S. State Department has confirmed. The announcement marks a tentative step toward de-escalation, even as sporadic deadly exchanges of fire have persisted across the shared Israel-Lebanon border since an initial truce was first announced by former U.S. President Donald Trump in mid-April.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott outlined U.S. hopes that the extended ceasefire window will create space for meaningful dialogue that paves the way for a durable long-term peace agreement between the two nations. “We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border,” Pigott stated in an official press release.
To move the diplomatic process forward, the State Department confirmed that formal political-level negotiations will reconvene in June, with a parallel security-focused negotiating track set to launch at the Pentagon on May 29. Military delegations from both Israel and Lebanon will take part in the security-focused talks, which are expected to center on border stability and de-escalation frameworks, according to Pigott.
Despite the initial ceasefire that took effect in April, cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have remained an almost daily occurrence. In recent days, Israel has ramped up air and artillery strikes across southern Lebanon, with Israeli officials stating that all operations target Hezbollah fighters and militant infrastructure. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has pushed back against these claims, accusing Israeli forces of deliberately targeting civilian populations and medical first responders — an allegation Israeli authorities have repeatedly denied.
The Israeli military has articulated a strategic goal of establishing a formal buffer zone across southern Lebanon, designed to prevent future cross-border attacks by Hezbollah. This military tactic mirrors the approach Israeli forces have deployed in the Gaza Strip, where entire residential villages in southern Lebanon have been left completely destroyed. International human rights organizations have raised alarm that some of the tactics used by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon may qualify as war crimes, another allegation that Israeli officials reject outright.
For its part, Hezbollah has continued to carry out retaliatory attacks against Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon and northern Israeli territory, using a combination of rocket fire and drone strikes. The broader conflict between the two sides erupted on March 2, just two days after the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military strike targeting Iranian assets. Hezbollah launched an intensive rocket barrage into Israeli territory in response, triggering widespread Israeli air strikes and a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon that has continued in various forms ever since.
Official casualty figures underscore the devastating human cost of the two-month conflict. Lebanon’s health ministry reports that at least 2,896 people have been killed in Lebanese territory since hostilities began. In the most recent deadly incident this week, Lebanese health officials confirmed that Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon killed 22 people on Wednesday, including eight children. On the Israeli side, government authorities report that 18 soldiers and four civilians have been killed since the conflict began in March.