U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein traveled to Beirut on Monday in an effort to finalize a ceasefire agreement that would end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, U.S. officials told U.S. news portal Axios.

An Israeli airstrike targeted the main water facility in the southern port city of Tyre, killing two local officials and injuring two others, further compounding southern Lebanon’s worsening water crisis, Lebanon’s state media said.

The attack severely damaged the facility, prompting the Tyre Municipality to urge residents to ration water use until repairs can be made, the National News Agency said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will continue to operate militarily against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.

"The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper... We will be forced to ensure our security in the north (of Israel) and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah's attacks... even after a ceasefire", to keep the group from rebuilding its forces, Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.

The Lebanese government has largely endorsed U.S. truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and was preparing final comments before sending a response to Washington, a Lebanese official told AFP on Monday.

Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, nearly a year into limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of Palestinian ally Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.

Minutes after an Israeli strike killed at least four in central Beirut, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a post on X, “All countries and decision-makers are required to end the bloody and destructive Israeli aggression on Lebanon and implement international resolutions, most notably Resolution 1701.”

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, was intended to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon and end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. However, the resolution’s full implementation has faced challenges from both sides.

A Lebanese security official told AFP that an Israeli strike hit a central neighborhood of the capital Beirut on Monday, the third such attack in the last 24 hours.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Zoqaq al-Blat in Beirut killed five people and injured 18," the ministry said in a statement, giving a preliminary toll.

Dozens of heritage sites in Lebanon were granted "provisional enhanced protection" by UNESCO Monday, the U.N. cultural body said, offering a higher level of legal shielding as Israel heavily bombed Lebanon.

The 34 cultural sites affected "now benefit from the highest level of immunity against attack and use for military purposes," UNESCO said in a statement, adding that "non-compliance with these clauses would constitute 'serious violations' of the 1954 Hague Convention and... potential grounds for prosecution".

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will leave Washington to Beirut shortly, a U.S. official told U.S. news portal Axios on Monday evening.

U.S. officials had earlier told Axios that Hochstein had informed Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri that he was delaying his departure to Beirut until getting “more clarifications” about the Lebanese position regarding the cease-fire agreement.

Hezbollah said Monday that four members of its media office died in an Israeli strike on a central Beirut district a day earlier that also killed its spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that “U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Lebanon soon” and that “the ambiguous files will be resolved face to face.”