Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday accused Iran and its "proxy Hezbollah" of trying to kill him and his wife, vowing that they would pay "a heavy price," after his office reported a drone targeted his residence in Caesarea.

U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British PM Keir Starmer agreed in their meeting in Berlin on Friday to dispatch U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to Beirut, a diplomatic source said.

Lebanese authorities said two people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday in Jounieh, north of Beirut, in the first strike on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year.

Top political leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, on Friday confirmed the death of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Al-Hayya, in a televised statement, reiterated the Palestinian militant group’s stance that it will not release Israeli hostages captured in the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel until there is a cease-fire in the yearlong war in Gaza.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has called for unity to confront Israel, for a ceasefire, and for the election of a consensual president.

In remarks to al-Modon web portal, Bassil said the priority is for a ceasefire and for deterring a possible re-occupation of south Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused the Lebanese government of becoming "a rescue committee" instead of a state and of allowing Iran to fight its battles from Lebanon.

In remarks published Friday in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Geagea said that Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon to where it is now, while Lebanese officials were "loafing around" instead of calling for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

Hezbollah fired Friday a volley of rockets at Israel's Yoav barracks in the occupied Golan Heights and another volley of rockets at the Zofolon area north of Haifa.

The Israeli army for its part called for the evacuation of 20 southern Lebanese towns, and struck several southern towns including Jbaa, Aita al-Shaab, Zrariyeh, Marwanieh, Bazourieh, Shaaytiyeh, Ebl al-Siqi, Malkieh, and Ansar.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday condemned remarks attributed to Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf about Tehran's readiness to negotiate with France over the implementation of Resolution 1701.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is launching a Middle East Humanitarian Appeal to raise urgent funds for people whose lives are being devastated by conflict.

"Over the past year, conflict in the Middle East has devastated lives across the region, and millions have fled their homes in search of safety. Right now, millions of people across Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region are in urgent need of food, shelter and medical care," DEC said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that any negotiations to end fighting in Lebanon must be conducted “under fire,” during a situational assessment on the northern front.

Meeting with commanders of the reservist 146th Division, Gallant said the recent capture of Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon proves the Israeli army's "success and Hezbollah's predicament," according to a Defense Ministry statement.