Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Thursday that negotiations are a necessity, not a concession, after he met President Joseph Aoun in Baabda ahead of a second session of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington.

"Negotiations are the only path toward ending wars and destruction, on behalf of all Lebanese people," al-Rahi said, adding that any infringement upon Lebanon's sovereignty, independence, or the rights of its people is "unacceptable."

UK Chargé D’Affaires Victoria Dunne and Deputy Defense Attaché Thomas Hobbs met Thursday senior officers of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to deliver UK relief assistance to displaced LAF families, at the LAF logistics hub in Beirut.

The UK Ministry of Defense is providing essential and practical relief items, worth over $150,000, delivered and coordinated in partnership with the LAF. This includes personal hygiene kits, bedding, washing machines and cleaning essentials and will meet the needs of hundreds of families affected by the conflict. This is in addition to $27 million in humanitarian crisis response to Lebanon announced last week, bringing total UK support since March to $40 million.

President Joseph Aoun met Thursday with Saudi Foreign Ministry Advisor Prince Yazid bin Farhan in Baabda.

Their discussions focused on the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to assist Lebanon in overcoming its prevailing hardships and regional challenges.

In areas of southern Lebanon it has occupied since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been destroying homes it says were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group.

But the demolitions are happening on such a wide scale that residents, Lebanese officials and U.N. peacekeepers are increasingly worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house in southern Lebanon where she had taken cover while reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah war. Her body was only retrieved from the rubble hours later, rescue workers said.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed in the southern village of al-Tiri.

The body of a Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Wednesday was pulled from under the rubble hours after the attack.

President Joseph Aoun’s comments on Wednesday came a day before a second meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors.

The issue of the Israeli war against Lebanon remains a key topic in the U.S.-Iranian contacts and separating the Lebanese file from the Islamabad talks does not appear to be certain, informed sources told al-Akhbar newspaper.

Lebanese town official Sharif Badreddine begged his youngest son not to leave to fight for Hezbollah against Israel in the country's south, but as the tearful father buried his child he could not hide a sense of pride.

In the face of a government push to disarm the group, its supporters call on a long-held enmity with Israel, deep religious beliefs and backing from Iran to justify their sons' sacrifice in the group's latest war that has killed thousands in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes killed three people in Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, despite an ongoing 10-day ceasefire, which an official said Beirut will request an extension for in the upcoming talks with Israel in Washington.

Ahead of the talks on Thursday, Israel called on the Lebanese government to "work together" with it against Hezbollah.