Lebanon digs for survivors after Israeli attack kills over 300, as surprise word of talks emerges

A rescue worker holds money recovered from the rubble of a destroyed building that was hit a day ahead in an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

BEIRUT — Lebanon reeled Thursday after the deadliest day of the renewed war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, with the death toll exceeding 300 people as more remains were pulled from rubble and bodies identified at hospitals. Meanwhile, Israel made the surprise announcement of authorizing direct talks with Lebanon, despite their lack of diplomatic ties. Israeli attacks continued.

The Health Ministry said that 1,150 people were also wounded in the widespread strikes that rocked Lebanon on Wednesday, including in busy parts of Beirut.

There was no immediate response to the Israeli announcement from Lebanon, which had repeatedly proposed talks to end the war, or from Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that talks would focus on disarming Hezbollah and “establishing peaceful relations” between the countries.

Negotiations are expected to begin next week at the U.S. State Department in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans. The talks are expected to be handled on the American side by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the situation.

A Lebanese diplomatic official familiar with the developments said that the country has not yet appointed someone to lead talks from Beirut, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is keen to have a temporary ceasefire when talks commence in parallel with those taking place between the United States and Iran mediated by Pakistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel’s announcement came hours after it had warned of escalation and said that it had killed an aide and nephew of Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, Ali Yusuf Harshi.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, earlier said that continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses,” while insisting that a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war extended to Lebanon. Israel has disagreed.

Israeli strikes on Wednesday, without warning, killed at least 203 people and wounded more than 1,000, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Israel’s military said that it targeted Hezbollah sites, but several strikes hit densely packed commercial and residential areas during rush hour, leading to widespread civilian casualties. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the attacks “barbaric.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said that Washington asked Israel to scale back attacks on Lebanon to ensure negotiations with Iran are successful.

• READ MORE: What to know about the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon
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`I thought I was dead’

In Beirut, people waited anxiously on the ragged edges of search and rescue work, shielding their faces from the dust. Exhausted firefighters sat on a charred car amid collapsed buildings.

Lebanese Civil Defence spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press that a wounded woman was found alive overnight in the seaside neighborhood of Ain Mreisseh, and a man was found alive in his collapsed apartment building in the southern suburbs.

Mohammad Chehab, a Syrian man from Deir el-Zour, said that six of his 10 family members had been found dead in a destroyed building.

“They’ve been searching all day” for the rest, he said.

At hospitals, survivors and doctors described the carnage, while relatives gathered to identify bodies.

Abdul Rahman Mohammad, a Syrian who lost five relatives in the Hay al-Sellom neighbourhood, waited at Rafik Hariri Hospital to retrieve the bodies of his mother, two sisters, brother and brother-in-law.

“They were struck without any warning. This is Israeli brutality,” he said.

Dr. Mohamad El Zaatari, director of the public hospital, said that it had treated 45 wounded people, including 10 cases in intensive care.

At the Makassed hospital, Rabee Koshok lay on his bed.

“I thought I was dead. What happened?” he recalled. “A big flash of light struck my face and eyes, and I found someone flying over and landing next to me. He was dead.”

Koshok had been in the commercial district of Corniche al Mazraa when a strike hit a nearby building.

Dr. Wael Jarrosh said that the hospital received around 70 wounded patients within 10 minutes of the blasts. Two people died and five remained hospitalized, including three in intensive care.

“This has destroyed us psychologically,” the doctor said.

• READ MORE: At least 182 killed as Israel strikes central Beirut after saying Iran truce doesn’t apply there
• READ MORE: Netanyahu authorizes direct talks with Lebanon ‘as soon as possible’

Lebanon alleges `blatant violation’ of international law

Netanyahu earlier had said that strikes would proceed “with force, precision and determination.” Israel’s military has accused Hezbollah members of moving out of the group’s main areas of influence in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and blending into civilian areas.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his country would file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council, calling the attacks a “blatant violation” of international and humanitarian law.

In a Cabinet session earlier Thursday, the Lebanese government announced a plan to demilitarize Beirut and deploy larger numbers of security patrols.

Even before the renewed war, Lebanon’s government had sought Hezbollah’s disarmament. The issue has inflamed tensions among Lebanese who are deeply divided over Hezbollah and its arsenal.

Melhem Khalaf, a reformist legislator representing Beirut, was critical of Israel’s strikes, but also of Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon back into war.

“All the targeted areas are safe residential Lebanese areas,” Khalaf said, while watching a bulldozer clear rubble. “What we are witnessing is a massacre against civilians.”

More than a million people have been displaced by the war, many from the south and Dahiyeh. Israel’s military has issued warnings for the population to leave those areas, followed by heavy bombardment.

Israel has also launched a ground invasion in the border region. The death toll in Lebanon has reached 1,739, the health ministry said, with 5,873 wounded.

Meanwhile, the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria returned to service Thursday, five days after the Israeli military warned of plans to strike it, alleging that Hezbollah was using it to smuggle military equipment. Lebanese and Syrian authorities denied the claim.

More than 200,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria since the war resumed.

• READ MORE: Israel to destroy ‘all houses’ near Lebanon border, defence minister says
• READ MORE: Protesters gather outside American embassy in Ottawa to oppose wars in Lebanon, Iran

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By Sally Abou Aljoud, The Associated Press

Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Associated Press journalists Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut and Ghaith AlSayed in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, contributed to this report.