Lebanon's health ministry said 22 people including eight children were killed on Wednesday as Israel intensified strikes on the country, with several deadly raids hitting south of Beirut.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli airstrikes had pounded around 40 locations in Lebanon's south and east.
The fresh raids came on the eve of a new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington brokered by the United States, as Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah remains strongly opposed to the move.
The health ministry said late Wednesday that 10 people including six children had been killed in strikes on three south Lebanon villages.
Earlier, it reported that three strikes on cars along or near the coastal highway around 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 miles) from Beirut had "resulted in eight martyrs, including two children".
The NNA said two strikes had hit cars on the busy highway linking the capital to the country's south, while a third struck nearby.
An AFP photographer saw a burnt-out car and rescuers carrying a body at one of the sites, near the town of Jiyeh.
The ministry also reported four more people killed in strikes on four cars in south Lebanon's Tyre district and in Sidon, located around 40 kilometres south of Beirut.
- Drone attacks -
Since US President Donald Trump announced on April 16 that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
The head of Lebanon's National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), Chadi Abdallah, said more than 10,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed since the truce began.
Under the terms of the ceasefire released by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".
In addition to launching heavy airstrikes, Israeli soldiers are operating inside an Israeli-declared "yellow line", which runs around 10 kilometres north of the Israel-Lebanon border, carrying out broad demolition operations there.
Israel's army said it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers in south Lebanon on Wednesday.
An AFP correspondent saw thick smoke from Burj al-Shemali, one of nine areas where Israel's army issued evacuation warnings.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon, including with drones, and said its fighters had "ambushed" and clashed with Israeli forces in one area.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was "increasingly concerned" about the activities of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers near UN positions in south Lebanon.
That includes "the increased use of drones, which has resulted in explosions in and around our bases and put peacekeepers at risk", a UNIFIL statement said.
It noted several recent incidents in which drones presumed to belong to Hezbollah detonated in or near UN positions, including the force's Naqura headquarters.
Hezbollah has increasingly been using cheap fibre-optic drones for its attacks on Israeli forces.
- Civil defence funeral -
In Sidon, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of mourners at the funeral for two Lebanese civil defence personnel killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier.
Fellow civil defence personnel holding Lebanese flags lined up for an honour guard as the coffins passed, also draped in the national flag, with a rescue helmet and flak jacket placed on top.
This week, Beirut asked Washington to pressure Israel to halt its strikes ahead of the talks on Thursday and Friday.
Veteran diplomat Simon Karam will head the talks for Lebanon for the first time, as Washington seeks a historic breakthrough between the two sides despite the ongoing hostilities.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned that his fighters would turn the battlefield into "hell" for Israel.
Since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war in early March, authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed, including more than 200 children.
Hezbollah says the toll includes its fighters.
- US wants China 'more active' on Iran -
Ahead of a high-stakes US-China summit Thursday in Beijing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is looking for China to take a more active role toward Iran in ending the war.
"We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they are doing now, and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf," Rubio told Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to tackle thorny issues dividing the two superpowers when they meet in the Chinese capital, with Iran, trade and Taiwan on the cards.
- Iran threatens Kuwait -
Iran's foreign minister said Tehran had the right to respond after he accused Kuwait of attacking an Iranian boat and arresting four of its citizens in the Gulf, and called for their release.
"In clear attempt to sow discord, Kuwait has unlawfully attacked an Iranian boat and detained 4 of our citizens in the Persian Gulf. This illegal act took place near island used by the U.S. to attack Iran. We demand immediate release of our nationals and reserve right to respond," Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
- Senate backs Trump on war -
US senators narrowly rejected a resolution curbing President Donald Trump's power to wage war on Iran -- their first vote on the conflict since a 60-day deadline expired for the White House to seek formal authorisation.
The vote tally was 50-49.
- Lebanon says 10,000 homes hit -
More than 10,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Lebanon since a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the head of the country's National Council for Scientific Research said.
"Since the current ceasefire... we have witnessed 5,386 housing units that were completely destroyed, and 5,246 housing units damaged," chief Chadi Abdallah told a news conference.
- US wholesale prices jump -
Wholesale prices in the United States rose sharply in April lifted by a surge in energy costs related to the Iran war, registering their highest 12-month increase in more than three years.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) rose six percent for the 12 months ending in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said -- the highest level since December 2022.