Israel and Lebanon agree 45-day ceasefire extension - US

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire US President Donald Trump declared on 16 April, the US State Department has said.

"The 16 April cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress," State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said.

The State Department cast Israel-Lebanon talks, held in Washington yesterday and today, as "highly productive" and said the countries would reconvene negotiations on 2 June and 3 June.

This week's talks were the sides' third meeting since Israel intensified air attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on 2 March, three days into the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Israel had widened its ground invasion into Lebanon's south last month.

Fought in parallel to the US-Iran conflict, Israel's war in Lebanon has rumbled on since US President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire on 16 April, though hostilities have largely been contained to southern Lebanon since then.

Israeli attacks have killed 2,882 people in Lebanon since 2 March, Lebanese health authorities have said.

Some 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from the south.

Israel continues to raze villages in the south of the country.

Explosions could be seen in the town of Kfar Tibnit today despite the ongoing ceasefire agreement.

Israel says 17 of its soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.