Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed reservations about direct negotiations with Israel — a policy led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Al Jazeera reports.

Berri tells the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that there is no use in holding talks under fire. He also stresses that the claimed “ceasefire” that Trump has announced in Lebanon has only allowed Israel to “escalate its aggression” without any intervention from the US administration.

“Where is this truce? And has Israel ceased its annihilation of towns, its demolition of homes, its wanton shedding of the blood of children, women, and the elderly, and its obstruction of ambulance teams attempting to rescue the wounded and transport them to hospitals, or to retrieve those trapped beneath the rubble?” Berri asks.