Lebanon has secured "American guarantees" that its maritime border deal with Israel cannot be easily scrapped should Benjamin Netanyahu return to the Israeli premiership, Beirut's chief negotiator said.

Israel and Lebanon struck a U.S.-brokered sea border agreement last month that opens up lucrative offshore gas fields for the neighbors that remain technically at war.

U.S. mediators tried for more than a decade to broker a maritime border agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Finally, the elements fell into place for a landmark deal between two countries officially — and sometimes actively — at war since 1948.

Russia's war in Ukraine this year and Europe's resulting energy crisis have increased demand for natural gas, which the deal will enable Lebanon and Israel to extract from the Mediterranean Sea.

The closing statement of the 31st Arab Summit that was held in Algeria on Wednesday said the Arab countries “reiterate their solidarity with Lebanon.”

The Arab League voices support for Lebanon “to preserve its security and backs its steps to extend its sovereignty over its territory on land and at sea,” the statement added.

The International Support Group for Lebanon on Wednesday noted with concern the “continued lack of cooperation among Lebanese political actors that has precipitated a presidential vacuum, at a time when Lebanon most requires quick and decisive action to address its dire economic, financial and humanitarian crises.”

“More than ever, Lebanon needs fully functioning state institutions that can pursue comprehensive reforms with a strategic vision that generates substantive change for the public good,” the ISG said in a statement.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan urged Wednesday for the election of a new Lebanese president who is able to unify the country.

Bin Farhan stressed, in a speech in the Arab summit in Algeria, his country's keenness on the sovereignty of the Lebanese state.

Caretaker PM Najib Mikati on Wednesday urged the Arab nations to “rescue” Lebanon and not to “abandon it.”

“The Lebanon you know has changed. Yes, it has changed. The glowing beacon has been extinguished, the port that used to be considered the Orient’s gateway has exploded, and the airport that is considered a convergence platform is having its lights turned off due to fuel shortages,” Mikati said, in a speech before the 31st Arab Summit in Algeria.

Two depositors, one of them armed with a gun and a gasoline bottle and the other wheelchair-bound, on Wednesday stormed Credit Libanais bank in Hazmieh, demanding their trapped U.S. dollar savings.

The wheelchair-bound depositor, Ibrahim Baydoun, later told al-Jadeed TV that the bank had agreed to give them both a sum of $55,000.

A 16 years old schoolgirl died Wednesday after the ceiling of her classroom collapsed at a public school in Tripoli.

Another schoolgirl was severely injured and other students were wounded.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday that U.S. guarantees would protect a maritime border deal with Israel even if Israel's ex-PM Benjamin Netanyahu wins a majority in elections.

Veteran politician Netanyahu appeared on the cusp of returning to power Wednesday, with initial election results showing his alliance with the extreme right taking a narrow lead.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri cancelled Wednesday his invitation for a national dialogue so that political parties can agree on a new president.

Berri's media office said that the speaker decided to cancel his initiative following "objections" from the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement.