Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that the army would begin deploying in "pilot zones" in the country's south, a day after Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to implement a ceasefire.

"The next step is practical and tangible: the deployment of the Lebanese army in pilot zones as a first phase," Salam said, according to remarks read out by Information Minister Paul Morcos after a cabinet meeting, adding that "this does not prejudice our right to a full (Israeli) withdrawal, but brings us closer to it."

The European Union signed off Thursday on a new 100-million-euro ($116 million) support package for the Lebanese Army, as it seeks to bolster the military amid a fragile ceasefire in the country.

"The latest ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon offers a chance to prevent a return to full-scale hostilities," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas posted online.

President Joseph Aoun said Thursday that an agreement on implementing a ceasefire announced in Washington after talks with Israel was the "last chance" to reach a comprehensive truce.

Envoys from Israel and Lebanon held a fourth round of U.S.-brokered talks in Washington on Wednesday, agreeing to implement a ceasefire hinged on Hezbollah halting its attacks.

The head of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, said Thursday that Israel must pull back from its current front lines in Lebanon, where it is fighting Tehran's ally Hezbollah.

"Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all of us, and removing Israel from the region is an attainable goal for Muslims," Esmail Qaani said in a post on a domestic social media platform. "The minimum demand of the resistance is the withdrawal of the usurping regime (Israel) to the position it held before the start of the 40-day war."

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Thursday that a peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded when shelling hit their base in the country's south the previous night.

"A UNIFIL peacekeeper died early this morning from critical injuries sustained when mortar shells struck his position," a statement from the force said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

Israel's defense minister said Thursday that a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon grants the military the "freedom" to strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacks Israeli communities, adding that operations in southern Lebanon would continue.

"The IDF will, at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations, remain in the security zone in Lebanon up to the Yellow Line -- including in the Beaufort area -- and without the return of the population, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure on the ground," Israel Katz said in a statement, as he hailed the ceasefire deal reached on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war between the United States and Iran, although Tehran insists the conflicts are linked.

"I'd like to separate it, I'd like to have a separate thing, because it is, it is separate," Trump told reporters.

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a paramedic, the state-run National News Agency reported late Wednesday after three other strikes targeted paramedics in south Lebanon in the same day.

The strike on a team from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee in Zebdine killed a paramedic and wounded another.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticized on Thursday a ceasefire deal with Lebanon brokered by Washington, calling it a "serious mistake".

"The ceasefire with Lebanon is a serious mistake and the pipe dreams of advisers are dragging the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to wrong decisions," the minister wrote on X.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that lines of communication with the United States were still open, but "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.

"Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV.