Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting militant group Hezbollah since last month.

The Lebanese Army on Thursday urged people not to return to the country's southern villages and towns before a ceasefire with Israel takes effect at midnight local time (2100 GMT), and warned against approaching Israeli forces there.

In a statement, the Army Command also called on citizens to heed instructions of Lebanese soldiers deployed in the south, where Israeli troops have invaded across the border, and to beware of unexploded ordnance and "suspicious objects."

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh has killed at least seven people and wounded 33, the health ministry said Thursday, hours before a 10-day ceasefire between the two countries is scheduled to take effect.

Lebanese state media reported a "massacre against civilians" in the town, noting that rubble removal operations are ongoing, while the health ministry said its toll is "preliminary and not final".

Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese group would respect a ceasefire with Israel announced earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump if Israeli attacks on the militants stopped.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a ceasefire Thursday, and said he was trying to set up the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

President Joseph Aoun held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday during which he thanked the U.S. leader for his "efforts" to secure a ceasefire with Israel, the Lebanese Presidency said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error", urging authorities to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.

Israel's defense minister warned Iran on Thursday against rejecting a U.S. proposal focused on renouncing "nuclear armament" and vowed to stage "even more painful" strikes on new targets if it did so.

"Iran is standing at a historic crossroads: one path is renouncing the ways of terror and nuclear armament... in line with the US proposal, the other leads to an abyss," Israel Katz said.

Visiting British Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer on Thursday called for a ceasefire in Lebanon where Israel and Hezbollah are at war, and welcomed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war on March 2 after militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran. Israel has responded with huge strikes and a ground invasion in the country's south.

Iran's prominent speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart on Thursday that a ceasefire in Lebanon was "as important" as in Iran, according to a statement posted on Telegram.

In talks to end the war between Iran and the United States, Ghalibaf said Tehran has "been striving to compel our enemies to establish a permanent ceasefire in all the conflict zones, in accordance with the agreement. For us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran," he said, in a phone conversation with Nabih Berri.