The U.N. peacekeeping chief says diplomatic efforts toward a cease-fire in Lebanon are “encouraging,” and that the United Nations is working on the role its peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon could play after the Israel-Hezbollah war ends.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who just returned from Lebanon and Israel, told reporters Tuesday that the U.N. is proceeding on the basis that Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, will remain the framework for a settlement .

Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that Israel on Tuesday staged an "intolerable" new attack on the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

"Today there was a new attack. Three rockets fell on Chamaa. It is intolerable," the minister said on the sidelines of EU talks in Brussels. The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks by Israel since it started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As Israel advances its incursion into southern Lebanon, its troops are finding large troves of Russian weapons, confirming longstanding suspicions in Israel that Hezbollah is enhancing its fighting capacity with the help of sophisticated Russian arms, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

Some of the weapons, which include modern Kornet antitank missiles manufactured as recently as 2020, were sent to southern Lebanon in recent years from Russian stockpiles in neighboring Syria, according to Syrian security officials and an Arab official. Russia has long provided arms to Syria’s military, as well as controlling its own warehouses in the country.

The Israeli army said Tuesday that a soldier was killed in south Lebanon, where its troops have battled Hezbollah since late September after a year of cross-border exchanges of fire.

"Sergeant First Class (Reserve) Omer Moshe Gaeldor, aged 30, from Jerusalem, a soldier from the 5,111 Battalion, Golani Brigade, was killed during combat in southern Lebanon," the army said, adding three other soldiers were wounded.

Speaker Nabih Berri announced Tuesday that the situation was “good in principle” following his two-hour meeting in Ain el-Tineh with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who is trying to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.

France's defense minister on Tuesday urged the wealthy Gulf states to find ways to bolster Lebanon's armed forces, saying they will be crucial for securing border areas after Israel's war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said it launched missiles at a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv on Tuesday and attacked Israeli troops near four south Lebanon villages as a U.S. envoy visited Beirut for ceasefire talks.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, under pressure from an Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in its area of operations, says Argentina has asked three of its officers in the contingent to return home, while all other contributing countries are maintaining their commitments.

Spokesman Andrea Tenenti of UNIFIL said its “operational capabilities have not changed” after the move by Argentina, and U.N. forces have not moved from their positions -- despite the Israeli army asking them to move from positions near the “blue line” along the Lebanon-Israel border about a month ago.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday told visiting U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein that “the government’s priority is reaching a ceasefire, ending the aggression against Lebanon and preserving Lebanese sovereignty across all Lebanese territory.”

Hezbollah swiftly announced the postponement of its chief Sheikh Naim Qassem's speech after saying in a previous statement that he would give a speech on Tuesday.

The statement and the postponement came as U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein visited Beirut seeking an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war.