President Joseph Aoun told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a call Friday that a comprehensive ceasefire must be secured in order for talks with Israel to progress.

The Lebanese presidency said Aoun thanked Rubio for U.S. support but stressed "the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire, which Lebanon considers a fundamental basis for advancing the Lebanese-U.S.-Israeli negotiations scheduled to take place in Washington next week."

Mediators in the U.S.-Iran conflict, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are due to gather for talks in Egypt on Sunday, Cairo and Islamabad said.

Israeli airstrikes and bombardments killed at least 47 people and wounded 97 others in Lebanon on Friday, according to the latest updated toll from the Lebanese health ministry.

The dead included at least seven women and two children and the figures were released as a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was due to start.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel on Friday of wanting "permanent war" following remarks from its far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying "all Lebanon must burn" after four Israeli soldiers were killed there.

"This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It's a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime. The genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all humans. Its only interest is permanent war," Araghchi said on X.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday condemned the latest Israeli strikes on eastern and southern Lebanon, saying the "killing and destruction constitutes a dangerous escalation".

"It effectively targets all ongoing efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war," a statement from the presidency said, after Israeli attacks in the south and east killed at least 18 people.

Hezbollah vowed to defend Lebanon's territory and people against Israeli attacks on Friday, accusing its foe of violating a ceasefire as fighting flared.

"The Islamic Resistance will remain vigilant against any aggression. Its fighters will defend their land and people," the Iran-backed group said in a statement, refuting Israeli accusations that it had violated the truce, and instead insisting "the enemy has never complied with any ceasefire agreement".

Italy's foreign minister on Friday said he was cancelling a visit to the United States over reported comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that appeared to mock Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

"The grave and offensive words of President Trump... offend the whole of Italy," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who had been due to visit the U.S. on June 21 and 22, said on X.

Israel's military said Friday it had struck Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon after an attack killed four of its soldiers.

"A short time ago, in response to repeated ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, which continues to prepare and carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers, the army struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Bekaa Valley," the military said in a statement.

Switzerland announced Friday that planned talks on implementing a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding to end the Middle East war had been postponed, hours after U.S. Vice President JD Vance's departure for the Alpine country was cancelled.

"The planned talks between the U.S., Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday that "all of Lebanon must burn" after Israel's military announced the deaths of four soldiers there.

"With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn," Ben Gvir said in a statement.