New Delhi: Two days after Israel struck targets across Lebanon, killing more than 300 people, India on Friday said it was “deeply concerned” about civilian casualties and that observing territorial integrity was “essential”. On Wednesday (April 8), hours after a two-week ceasefire between the United States (US) and Iran took effect, Israel launched its largest wave of airstrikes since the war began on March 2, hitting over 100 targets in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on March 16 after Hezbollah resumed strikes in response to the US-Israeli attack on Iran. The Lebanese health ministry on Thursday (April 9) revised the death toll from Wednesday’s strikes to 303 dead and 1,150 injured.Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on developments in West Asia, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India was “deeply concerned by reports of a large number of civilian casualties that have been reported in Lebanon”. “As a troop contributing country to UNIFIL that is invested in Lebanon’s peace and security, the trajectory of events is very disturbing,” he said.Stating that India had always emphasised protection of civilians as the “foremost priority,” Jaiswal said, adding that “observing international law and respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is essential.”Israeli defence minister Israel Katz had last month vowed to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon to form a “buffer zone”, which would mean displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese nationals.India had earlier condemned the attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left three Indonesians dead and injured three others in two separate incidents. The UN had not identified the origin of the projectiles which killed the peacekeepers. India is the fourth largest contributor to UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with 642 troops, after Italy, Indonesia and Spain.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon would file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council, calling the attacks a “blatant violation” of international and humanitarian law and accusing Israel of targeting densely populated residential neighbourhoods and killing unarmed civilians.The Israeli military issued warnings for some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon before the strikes. No such warning was given for central Beirut, which was also hit. Lebanese officials and residents said, as per media reports, that the targeted buildings had no military significance.Other areas hit included the port city of Sidon, the southern city of Tyre, southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley. An Israeli airstrike hit a cemetery in the Bekaa Valley village of Shmestar during a funeral, killing at least ten mourners and wounding four others. Israel also struck an ambulance near Tyre and reportedly caused extensive damage at Hiram Hospital in Tyre.The latest Israeli assault came just hours after a two‑week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, mediated by Pakistan, formally took effect, raising expectations in Beirut and other Arab capitals that regional de‑escalation might finally hold.Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on social media that Iran and the US, “along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, effectively immediately”.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office insisted the ceasefire did not include Lebanon and Trump confirmed this to US media outlets. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the exclusion of Lebanon had been “relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire”.Iran rejected that position. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the ceasefire terms were “clear and explicit” and that the US “must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both.” In response to the strikes, Iran threatened to attack Israel if the aggression against Lebanon did not cease, and Iranian state media reported that Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz in response.The question of Lebanon’s status in the ceasefire deal has become the central point of contention ahead of the peace talks opening in Islamabad on Saturday.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran’s participation in talks was conditional on Washington honouring what Iran said were its ceasefire commitments, including a halt to strikes on Lebanon. Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad said Tehran viewed the continued strikes as a bid to torpedo the negotiations.Condemnation of Israel’s attacks has poured in a range of regional and Western capitals. Qatar’s foreign ministry called the raids a “brutal series” of attacks that amount to a “dangerous escalation” and a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law, urging the international community to act to stop “Israeli aggression against Lebanon”.France’s Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot said any viable ceasefire must include an end to military operations in Lebanon and urged Israel to halt strikes that are killing civilians, while Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia have all expressed concern that leaving Lebanon outside the ceasefire risks collapsing the fragile truce with Iran.On Thursday night, Netanyahu suddenly announced that he had ordered Cabinet to initiate direct talks with Lebanon, which had been a long-standing demand from Beirut.“Negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peace relations between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement read. “Israel appreciates today’s call by the Prime Minister of Lebanon to demilitarize Beirut.”Lebanon has said that it will take part in direct talks with Israel next week only after a ceasefire was in place.