The death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon has surpassed 3,000, a grim milestone that underscores the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. Lebanon’s health ministry reported 3,020 dead since 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader. The figure includes 292 women, 211 children and 116 health workers, and has continued to climb even after a ceasefire was extended by 45 days on Friday. The truce, the third since March, was supposed to pave the way for negotiations in early June, but violence has persisted.

From the ground in southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages have struck more than a dozen towns and villages in the past 48 hours. On Tuesday, a strike on a house in Kfarsir killed four civilians, while a drone attack in the Bint Jbeil district killed another. Hezbollah, for its part, has launched around 200 projectiles into Israel over the weekend and claimed a drone strike on a military barracks in northern Israel. The tit-for-tat violence has displaced over a million Lebanese and destroyed thousands of homes, according to local authorities. In the Israeli-declared “yellow zone” along the border, troops have been demolishing buildings.

Viewed from Washington, where the ceasefire was negotiated, the administration has struggled to enforce quiet. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had paused a planned attack on Iran after Tehran sent a peace proposal, but the Lebanon front remains a secondary theatre. Analysts in Beirut note that Hezbollah has publicly condemned the talks as a “dead end”, while Israeli officials accuse the group of violating the truce with continued rocket fire. The health ministry reports that more than 400 of the deaths have occurred since the truce began on 17 April, casting doubt on the viability of diplomatic channels.

The broader strategic context remains shaped by the Iran-Israel confrontation. The ceasefire extensions have failed to halt a war that erupted after the 28 February U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, which drew Hezbollah into fighting in support of its patron. With neither side showing willingness to de-escalate, the prospect of a durable peace recedes. As negotiations resume in June, the key question — whether Hezbollah can be disarmed — remains unanswered, and the daily toll on civilians continues.