ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warned on Wednesday that the “only path to security is through negotiations,” insisting that Israel cease military actions in Lebanon ahead of peace talks he said they are awaiting the US to set a date for.

In a statement shared by the presidency, Aoun insisted that “Israel must realize once and for all that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first implement a complete ceasefire before moving to the negotiating phase.”

“If Israel believes it can achieve security through violations and the destruction of border villages, it is mistaken,” Aoun said, adding that “it has tried this before, and it yielded no results.”

“We face many difficulties in achieving stability, and we are working as much as possible to mitigate the consequences of the military attacks on Lebanon,” he continued. “We are making intensive contacts toward this end; Israeli attacks cannot be allowed to continue as they are after the announcement of a ceasefire.”

He concluded by noting that Beirut is “currently waiting for the United States to set a date for the start of negotiations.”

The statement comes in the wake of a Wednesday announcement by the Lebanese military that a soldier was killed during a wave of strikes on Tuesday that, according to updated Health Ministry data, claimed 11 lives, including three civil defense workers.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam labeled the killing of the civil defense workers as a “war crime.”

Also on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes targeted at least 12 locations in the south of the country, while Israeli troops were also reportedly detonating homes in at least two separate areas, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

According to Lebanese army and health ministry reports, over 60 people have been killed by Israeli strikes across the country since the ceasefire took effect less than two weeks ago.

A funeral procession was held in Lebanon on Wednesday for the four-year-old Mila Zayyat, her mother Ruqaya Zaidan, and another woman, all of whom were killed by Israeli strikes on the country's southern Tayr Debba pic.twitter.com/a3KOv7h9Vg

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On Wednesday, Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah insisted that Israeli efforts to "establish a security belt on our land... will be brought down by the sacrifices of the resistance and the steadfastness of our people," as he once again dismissed the possibility of his group engaging in direct negotiations with Israel.

But Lebanon’s humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly dire: according to a report released Wednesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a United Nations-backed group that monitors hunger and malnutrition – 1.2 million people in Lebanon face acute hunger due to war.

“Around 1.24 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) between April and August 2026, which is worse than was previously projected for this period in the IPC analysis released in October 2025,” the report read.

The IPC highlighted that the crisis is most severe in southern governorates like Nabatieh and Bent Jbeil, where up to 65 percent of both Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees are struggling to eat, with 10 percent of the population trapped in the "Emergency" phase (IPC Phase 4). This deterioration is being driven by the physical destruction of livelihoods, surging food and fuel prices, and a looming reduction in humanitarian aid, all compounded by regional instability that continues to cripple the country's economic access to food.

Tel Aviv now controls nearly 600 kilometers of territory in southern Lebanon, where dozens of towns and villages fall within the so-called “yellow line” set by the Israeli military.

Following months of fighting with Hezbollah and a fragile ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on April 16, Israel drew the yellow line extending roughly 4 to 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory, from the Mediterranean coast to the Syrian border. At least 55 villages have been designated off-limits, with residents barred from returning as homes and infrastructure are demolished to create a cleared, uninhabited buffer zone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces will remain in what he described as a “reinforced security zone” indefinitely.