U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Friday to work with "real urgency" for a diplomatic resolution to end Israel's offensive in Lebanon but said it was first critical to reach understandings on disarmament of Hezbollah.

Shortly after meeting Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London, Blinken also pleaded for protection of civilians but stopped short of urging an immediate ceasefire by Israel, which relies on US diplomatic and military support.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said the international community must speed up efforts for a political solution in Lebanon to prevent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah spiraling into a "conflagration".

"We are currently engaged in a race against time between the possible start of a political process in Lebanon and a generalized conflagration with incalculable consequences," Borrell said in a statement.

Israel estimates it has killed 2,000 Hezbollah militants since its military began fighting the Lebanese group along its northern border in October 2023.

The army did not explain how it arrived at that number on Thursday. It was not possible to independently corroborate its count.

Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists after a strike in the country's south on Friday killed three media workers, in what he called a "war crime".

"The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists" was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy", Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was "deliberate" and "aims to terrorize the media to cover up crimes and destruction".

An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon early Friday, a rare strike on an area that had so far been spared the hostilities in the rest of the region.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli attacks against journalists covering the war in Gaza and Lebanon in the past year.

A Paris conference Thursday on aid for conflict-stricken Lebanon raised around $800 million for humanitarian aid and a further $200 million to support the country's armed forces, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has expressed "deep concern" to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant over strikes on the Lebanese army after three soldiers were killed over the weekend.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday that only the state should carry weapons, as he pushed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Lebanese authorities must deploy over (all) Lebanese territory and weapons should be carried only by the state and the Lebanese army," Mikati said on the sidelines of a Lebanon aid conference in Paris, without explicitly calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the only group that did not lay down its arms after the end of the Lebanese civil war.

The British Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer on Thursday attended the Lebanon Support Conference in Paris to reiterate calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said Thursday it targeted an Israeli military base near Haifa, the second time within 24 hours it has said it targeted the facility.