US-IRAN WAR: CEASEFIRE AMID HOPES FOR PEACE

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned Israel’s “brutal aggression” in Lebanon and called for an immediate ceasefire, saying the military escalation violates Lebanon’s sovereignty and international law.

In a post on X, Aboul Gheit said Israeli forces had encroached on Lebanese territory, destroyed villages and historical sites in the south, and targeted civilians, causing displacement.

He urged the UN Security Council to compel Israel to halt its military operations and fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for a cessation of hostilities and Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Israeli Army Radio reported on Sunday that four Israeli soldiers were injured after a drone struck a military site near Beit Hillel in the Hula Valley in northern Israel’s Upper Galilee region.

Israeli media said the impact caused injuries to four people, though their conditions were not immediately detailed.

The Israeli military has not yet issued an official comment on the incident.

Oil prices rose as markets reopened Monday following weekend reports that the United States had hardened its negotiating terms with Iran to end the Middle East war.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 2.5% to $89.60 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude, meanwhile, was trading around $93.16 a barrel for August delivery, a rise of about 2.2% from Friday's close.

The increase follows a week where crude prices dropped over 11% amid hopes that an imminent peace agreement would lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the global oil supply transits.

Over the weekend, however, The New York Times and other US media reported US President Donald Trump had sent back a new version of a possible memorandum of understanding to Tehran with several tightened negotiating points.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday over Israel’s expanded offensive in Lebanon, diplomatic sources told AFP, following reports of the capture of the medieval Beaufort Castle.

The meeting was requested by France and will take place immediately after another emergency session on the crash of a Russian drone into a residential building in Romania, the sources said.

The second meeting is scheduled for 1900 GMT, according to the sources.

Eight people, including three women, were killed in an Israeli dawn air strike on southern Lebanon, the health ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said: “The massacre committed by the Israeli enemy in a raid on the town of Deir Zahrani, Nabatieh district, at dawn on Sunday… resulted in eight martyrs, including three women, and 19 wounded, including five children and six women.”

The attack also left 19 people injured, among them five children and six women, it added.

The strike comes as Israel intensifies its air raids and ground operations in Lebanon.

Britain’s Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer MP, has warned that continued escalation in Lebanon is undermining diplomatic efforts and harming civilians, saying “Israel’s expansion of the conflict must stop.”

In a post on X, Falconer said, “Hizballah must end attacks on Israel and disarm. All sides should uphold the ceasefire and continue US-led talks.”

A vehicle rammed into a group of Israeli civilians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, wounding two teenagers, with the suspected attacker killed by a soldier, Israeli authorities said.

The incident occurred in the area of Gush Etzion Junction in the southern West Bank.

Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom said its medics evacuated two teenage girls to a hospital in Jerusalem after the attack.

"Paramedics are treating a 17-year-old girl in serious condition with injuries to her limbs and a 15-year-old girl in moderate condition with a facial injury," MDA said.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said, "Soldiers were dispatched in the area of the Gush Junction following a report regarding a terrorist who rammed into Israeli civilians".

A "soldier eliminated the terrorist on site, and soldiers are establishing roadblocks in the area", it added.

Iran plans to submit new amendments to the draft memorandum of understanding being negotiated with the United States, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, citing a source familiar with the talks.

According to the report, Tehran will propose changes to the draft text as negotiations continue over a possible agreement between the two sides.

The source also said amendments proposed by US President Donald Trump do not mean Iran has accepted them, signalling that key issues remain unresolved.

The comments come amid continuing uncertainty over the status of a potential US-Iran memorandum, which Iranian officials have repeatedly said has not yet been finalised.

The Israeli army's push further into southern Lebanon is cause for serious concern, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a statement on Sunday, urging all sides to cease hostilities.

"The Israeli army's advance further into southern Lebanon is cause for serious concern," the statement said, adding: "Any further escalation will exacerbate the already tense situation and trigger new waves of displacement within Lebanon."