French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reaffirmed Tuesday that Lebanon must be included in the initial ceasefire agreement.

"The ceasefire must absolutely include Lebanon, which under no circumstances can be the scapegoat of the Israeli government," Barrot said on French radio RFI.

Israel's military said Monday that a massive wave of strikes in Lebanon last week killed five Hezbollah commanders, as well as more than 250 of the group's fighters.

The Lebanese health ministry has said Wednesday's attacks killed more than 350 people in total and wounded more than 1,200.

Israel summoned Italy's ambassador Monday to protest after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned Israel's "unacceptable attacks" on civilians in Lebanon during a visit to Beirut, an Italian diplomatic source said.

Tajani, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, visited Beirut on Monday for talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to end fighting in southern Lebanon and engage in direct peace talks with the Lebanese government, a spokesman said.

Merz also expressed his "grave concern" about developments in the Palestinian territories in a telephone conversation with Netanyahu and demanded that there "must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank", the German government spokesman said.

From his small shop in Beirut, facing a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, Qassem Saad said he was exhausted by repeated Israeli wars on Lebanon, and hoped negotiations could end decades of suffering.

"We know that Israel will remain an enemy to us, but we are tired," 49-year-old Saad, who suffered a minor injury in the strike, told AFP.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that a soldier had been killed in Lebanon, the first since a U.S.-Iran temporary truce came into force that Israel insisted does not include the country where it is fighting Hezbollah.

"Sergeant Major (Res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, aged 30, from Katzrin, a firefighting vehicle driver in the 188th Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged the Lebanese state to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with Israel.

Hezbollah will not abide by any agreements that may result from the direct Lebanon-Israel talks in the United States, negotiations it firmly opposes, a senior Hezbollah official said Monday.

Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah's political council, spoke on the eve of the talks expected in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet face-to-face in direct talks.

President Joseph Aoun on Monday told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani that "Lebanon hopes that the upcoming meeting tomorrow in Washington between the ambassadors of Lebanon, the United States, and Israel will result in an agreement on a ceasefire in Lebanon, paving the way for direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel."

The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had completely surrounded a key town in southern Lebanon after killing more than 100 Hezbollah fighters there over the past week.