• Israeli forces keep up attacks on Lebanon, killing at least eight people in the Palestinian territory and two men in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

Troops won’t leave Lebanon until Hezbollah disarmed: Israeli minister

Defense Minister Israel Katz has rejected US President Trump’s assertion that Israel will pull out of Lebanon.

“We didn’t ask for anyone’s approval to enter Lebanon and we don’t need approval to stay in Lebanon,” said Katz in a statement. “It is our right and duty to defend the residents of the Galilee and Israeli citizens from the threats.”

Trump said on Wednesday he believes Israel will withdraw from Lebanon even though Prime Minister Netanyahu and other officials have insisted forces will remain until Hezbollah has been completely de-militarized.

“As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have clarified, we will continue to stay in the security zone in Lebanon and to act from it as needed until Hezbollah is disarmed in all of Lebanon and the threat to the residents of the north is removed,” Katz said.

Trump says he thinks Israel will withdraw troops from southern Lebanon

The US president says he expects Israeli forces to leave southern Lebanon, while meeting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“I think they are going to. I think they want to,” Trump told reporters in Ankara, without providing a timeline or further details.

Amnesty International says Israel ‘wiping out families’ in Lebanon

The London-based rights group has accused Israel of “wiping out families” in its attacks on Lebanon, and called for the attacks to be treated as “war crimes”.

Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said “within the space of just a week the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon, demonstrating a callous disregard for civilian lives”.

“States must impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and use universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible,” she added.

In its latest report, the organization said: “Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, by carrying out attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or by failing to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians.”

US envoy meets Lebanese president to discuss Washington visit

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has met US Ambassador Michel Issa to discuss his upcoming visit to Washington, DC, at Trump’s invitation.

Aoun stressed the need to consolidate the ceasefire in southern Lebanon and press Israel to halt attacks and adhere to the agreement reached in US-mediated negotiations. He also called for an end to Israeli shelling and bulldozing in occupied towns, a statement from his office said.

Issa said Aoun’s visit reflects Trump’s commitment to Lebanon’s stability and a follow-up meeting is scheduled for July 14-15 in Rome involving Lebanese, US and Israeli delegations.

A US military delegation will arrive in Beirut in the coming days to coordinate the handover of “pilot

Israel demolishes homes in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon

Israeli forces have blown up a number of houses in the southern town of Haddatha in Bint Jbeil district as troops continue their occupation, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports.

An analysis of satellite imagery and open-source intelligence in April by Al Jazeera found a deliberate Israeli policy of rendering southern Lebanon permanently uninhabitable.

This pattern has drawn direct comparisons to the Israeli military’s brutal tactics in the Gaza Strip, which lies in ruins. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people remain forcibly displaced.

Deal with Israel shows negotiations ‘exclusively Lebanese’: Minister

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi says the framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel under US auspices demonstrates that such decisions are a matter for the Lebanese state alone.

Speaking during a visit to Cyprus, Raggi said the deal “has demonstrated to everyone, first and foremost Iran, that negotiations are an exclusively Lebanese responsibility, to be decided by no one other than the Lebanese state”.

As part of the interim deal with the US, Iran insisted on Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and a stop to its months-long attacks.

Lebanon’s Western-backed government and Hezbollah have exchanged angry words, and the group’s supporters have blocked major roads in protest. One Hezbollah lawmaker said the country would plunge into civil war if the government tries to force the group’s disarmament – as demanded by Israel.