Israel Strikes Near Lebanon’s Capital as Hopes for a Cease-Fire Fade

Israeli warplanes struck near Beirut for the first time in several days and airstrikes killed at least 52 people in central Lebanon on Friday, according to the Lebanese authorities, as diplomatic efforts to reduce the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah showed no sign of success.

Negotiations to reach a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah’s ally in the Gaza Strip, also hit another impasse on Friday. Hamas appeared to rule out the possibility of a limited cease-fire in order to exchange hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners, according to a statement released through the group’s official media.

The Biden administration had sent key envoys including the C.I.A. director to the region this week, in a push to at least generate some momentum in talks to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and its spiraling conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But the envoys departed the region on both fronts without any apparent or immediate results in either conflict.

Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese armed group backed by Iran, continued to fire scores of rockets and drones at Israel, setting off air-raid sirens across the country’s north. The Israeli strikes in Lebanon caused “massive destruction” and flattened buildings, according to Lebanese state media.

The strikes near Beirut hit the southern outskirts of Lebanon’s capital, a cluster of neighborhoods known as the Dahiya, where Hezbollah largely holds sway. In central Lebanon, Israeli jets bombarded targets in several villages, killing at least 52 people and wounding 26, according to the Lebanese health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.