Israel has intensified strikes on Lebanon, with the health ministry reporting nine people killed in attacks targeting cars between Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon despite a ceasefire, AFP reports.

The strikes, along with others in various areas of the country’s south, came on the eve of a new round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, brokered by the United States.

Lebanon’s health ministry said three strikes on cars along or near the coastal highway around 20 to 30 kilometres (12-19 miles) from Beirut “resulted in eight martyrs, including two children”.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said two strikes hit cars on the highway itself — a busy motorway that links Beirut to the country’s south — while a third struck nearby.

A fourth strike hit a car in Sidon, southern Lebanon’s largest city, around 40 kilometres south of Beirut, with the health ministry reporting one dead there.