Visiting U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein warned Wednesday that the clock was ticking for a Gaza ceasefire that would also end 10 months of cross-border exchanges between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel.

Hochstein told a Beirut news conference that he and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, discussed "the framework agreement that's on the table for a Gaza ceasefire, and he and I agreed there is no more time to waste and there's no more valid excuses from any party for any further delay."

Lebanese authorities have evacuated prisoners from police stations in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon to other parts of the country out of concerns about possible war with Israel, judicial and security officials said.

The officials say about 220 prisoners were moved. It comes amid concerns that the ongoing exchange of cross-border fire between Israeli troops and members of the Lebanon-based militant Hezbollah group might expand after Israel killed a top Hezbollah official last month. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate.

A Hezbollah lawmaker on Tuesday said that his group’s objective from the Lebanon front against Israel is to “press the enemy to halt the aggression against Gaza.”

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Lebanon this week in an attempt to contain escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, media reports said.

Lebanon has been on a knife's edge since a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs last week killed Hezbollah's top military commander, just hours before the assassination, blamed on Israel, of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

An Israeli drone targeted Tuesday a car on the Beit Yahoun - Baraachit road as Hezbollah attacked surveillance equipment in Misgav Am and groups of soldiers in the occupied Kfarshouba Hills and in the Mattat barracks in northern Israel.

Israeli tanks meanwhile shelled a house in the southern border town of Abbasiyyeh while artillery bombed the outskirts of al-Naqoura, Tayrharfa and Zebqine. Israeli warplanes had raided overnight the southern border towns of Mays al-Jabal and Marwahin.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged Canadians to leave Lebanon, warning of the risk of escalating regional conflict between Israel and others, including Hezbollah.

"We see that the risk of escalation is real," he said Monday at a press conference. "We're encouraging and asking all Canadians to please leave Lebanon while there are commercial routes available."

Lebanon's crisis-battered health care system is now preparing for the possibility of a devastating wider conflict with Israel, the country's health minister told The Associated Press in an interview.

Israel's military and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah have traded strikes since the current war in Gaza began, but tensions have escalated since an Israeli strike in a Beirut suburb killed a top Hezbollah commander last month. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate.

A 5.5 earthquake hit central Syria late Monday, with the shock felt in neighboring Lebanon, official media in both countries said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday said that “diplomatic contacts are active in several directions to halt the Israeli threats against Lebanon and reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that he had wanted to attack Lebanon as early as October 11, 2023.