Despite the military escalation that Lebanon witnessed over the past hours, it seems that “signs of hope are looming on the horizon,” the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television reported on Wednesday.

Any settlement that “does not guarantee Lebanon's sovereignty” cannot be accepted, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut.

“We are communicating with (U.S. Secretary of State Antony) Blinken and (U.S. mediator Amos) Hochstein to speed up the ceasefire in Lebanon,” Abdelatty added.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Wednesday that the second phase of Israel’s ground operation in south Lebanon “will not give it the victory image it is seeking” after “its failure in the first ground campaign.”

The European Council has adopted an assistance measure under the European Peace Facility (EPF) worth €15 million to the benefit of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the EU Delegation to Lebanon said.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that only U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) should be present on the table of negotiations, adding that “both sides should work on implementing its stipulations and commit to them, not only the Lebanese side.”

Hezbollah’s leadership has been informed that Iran has pledged to rebuild war-hit south Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Baalbek-Hermel region, sources told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper.

The timing of the Lebanese Army’s deployment in the area south of the Litani River is among the points of contention in the negotiations, informed sources told the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

Israeli warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday.

The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the U.S. demands.

A day after Israeli warplanes flattened their building, Lebanese residents helped rescuers scour the rubble for survivors, still reeling from the rare strike in the country's far north.

Hezbollah said it fired missiles at an air base near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, after the Israeli military said it had intercepted projectiles fired from Lebanon.