Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has rejected U.S.-brokered talks between the Lebanese government and Israel, calling the attempt at diplomacy “futile.” Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors are gathering in Washington, D.C., today for a meeting hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the first direct, high-level engagement between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Hezbollah is not a party to the talks. 

This comes as the death toll from Israel’s continuing attacks on Lebanon is approaching 2,100, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Of those killed by Israel, at least 88 are medics. The International Committee of the Red Cross says an Israeli strike on Monday killed one person and damaged humanitarian vehicles at a Red Cross center in the coastal city of Tyre. Separately, family members and medics gathered at the temporary grave site of paramedic Hassan Badawi, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Sunday. His father says he was targeted by an Israeli drone.

Ali Badawi: “The Israelis attacked him. He was just providing aid. He wasn’t doing anything else. He spent his whole life doing humanitarian work, and I encouraged him, and he loved doing the work.”