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.”

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut on Tuesday before moving to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to discuss Lebanon’s remarks over the U.S. ceasefire proposal, diplomatic sources said.

“If things get everyone’s approval, he will head to Paris on Thursday, where he will hold a press conference under the auspices of French President Emmanuel Macron to announce the ceasefire in Lebanon,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper quoted the sources as saying.

U.S. optimism on reaching a Lebanese-Israel ceasefire deal has reached its highest level in a year, a Lebanese government source told Al-Jazeera on Monday.

The Israeli army has started decreasing military reinforcements in the Upper Galilee to pave the way for returning the displaced residents to north Israel, Saudi Arabia’s Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has reported.