Report: Lebanese officials working with Hochstein on 'plan B'

Officials in Lebanon are working with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on a “plan B” regarding the southern front, MTV reported overnight.

The plan “can be improved should (U.S. President Joe) Biden’s proposal (for the Gaza ceasefire) fail and it might convince Hezbollah,” MTV added.

Hochstein shuttled between Jerusalem and Beirut this week calling for "urgent" de-escalation.

Hezbollah stepped up attacks on northern Israel last week after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders.

Hezbollah last week said it has carried out more than 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8, the day after Hamas's attack that sparked the Gaza war.

The Lebanese group has long said that only an end to the Gaza war would stop its cross-border attacks, which it says it is carrying out in support of Hamas and Gazans.

The violence has killed at least 473 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 92 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country's north.