Hamas official said killed by Israeli strike in Lebanon

Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the latest war which has been raging for two weeks. The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, with Israel launching air raids on the neighbouring country and troop incursions into border areas.

Lebanese authorities said the death toll in Israeli attacks rose to 850, while more than 830,000 people have registered as displaced.

Driving rain on Sunday piled more misery on displaced people, hundreds of whom have been sleeping rough or in tents near central Beirut's seafront.

Coffee shop owner Nader, 42, displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs, said he had rebuilt his home after it was destroyed in 2024 during the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict but "I am sure they have destroyed it again... but I haven't been able to check."

"Here we have nothing and the situation is very bad with the heavy rains and wind -- it's very cold, lots of babies are sick and we can't protect them," he told AFP.
'No' talks
The state-run National News Agency said Israel struck "an apartment in a residential building" in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and causing a fire.

An AFP correspondent saw damage to the third storey of an apartment building as the army cordoned off the area and rescue teams worked to extinguish the blaze and residents rushed into the street, some carrying belongings.

The Hamas source, requesting anonymity, said the strike killed official Wissam Taha.

Israel has repeatedly struck Hamas targets in Lebanon in recent years, including during previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted over the Gaza war, and after a 2024 ceasefire.

Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on sites in Israel and on Israeli troops in south Lebanon on Sunday, including one that it said targeted the Palmachim air base south of Tel Aviv, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Lebanese-Israeli border, with "an advanced missile".

The Israeli military said in a statement Sunday it continued to strike infrastructure used by Hezbollah throughout Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has proposed direct negotiations with Israel, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday responded "no" when asked whether Israel was set to hold such talks.
Debris
A Lebanese official had told AFP on Saturday that the country was preparing to form a delegation to negotiate with Israel but that there was no agenda, timing or location yet decided for any talks.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and he offered to host negotiations in Paris, warning that "everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos".

The NNA reported Israeli strikes on various areas of the country's south and east, while Israel's military renewed an evacuation warning for Beirut's southern suburbs, which it has repeatedly struck in the past fortnight.

An AFP photographer in south Beirut saw empty streets covered with debris and buildings flattened, with smoke still rising in the area after strikes in previous days.

Southeast of Sidon, in the village of Al-Qatrani, three people were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

The Israeli military said it hit "several Hezbollah launch sites" in Al-Qatrani, where it said the armed group was preparing to fire off missiles.

It also said it had destroyed "command centres" belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in Beirut.