Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces had arrested about 175 activists aboard 20 ships from an aid-laden flotilla bound for Gaza.

"Approximately 175 activists from more than 20 boats... are now making their way peacefully to Israel," the ministry said in a statement, including a video of the activists aboard an Israeli navy ship.

President Donald Trump said a U.S. naval blockade against Iran could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years, which held into Thursday.

Trump is expected to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, two sources with knowledge told Axios.

Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir vowed to strike Hezbollah targets north of Lebanon's Litani River and beyond the so-called "Yellow Line" during a visit to south Lebanon on Wednesday.

"Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces -- including beyond the Yellow Line and north of the Litani -- will be eliminated," Zamir said, according to a military statement issued after his visit to troops stationed within a newly-established Israeli security zone in southern Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that Israel must fully implement the ceasefire with Lebanon before beginning direct talks, after Israeli strikes killed more than 20 people over the last two days.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, and Israeli and Lebanese representatives have since met twice in Washington, the first such meetings in decades, for discussions that Hezbollah has categorically rejected.

A U.N.-backed report said Wednesday that more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger due to the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Wednesday that it should "get smart soon" and capitulate to Washington's demands for tight controls on its nuclear program, as a U.S. naval blockade turned the screws on Iran's economy.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth was due to testify before Congress later in the day, but U.S. press reports suggested Trump has already decided to reject Iran's latest proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump has told U.S. national security officials to prepare for a long blockade of Iran's ports in order to compel Tehran to give up its nuclear program, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump, according to the report, does not believe that Iran is negotiating in good faith and hopes it can be forced to suspend uranium enrichment for 20 years and accept tight restrictions thereafter.

With President Joseph Aoun pushing for direct talks with Israel while Hezbollah rejects them, the country is once again at an impasse after a verbal spat between its leader and the Iran-backed movement.

Lebanon has officially been at war with Israel since 1948, making direct negotiations taboo until recently when two wars between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah exhausted the country.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth will make his first testimony before Congress on the Mideast war Wednesday, as efforts to end the conflict stalled with the United States reportedly skeptical of Tehran's latest offer to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has blockaded the waterway -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments -- since the start of the U.S.-Israeli offensive two months ago, sending shockwaves through the global economy.

The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed eight people, including civil defense rescuers, and wounded two soldiers in the country's south, despite an ongoing ceasefire.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, announced it had found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters in southern Lebanon.