Ten European countries, including France and the United Kingdom, Tuesday urged all sides to ensure the safety of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon after three peacekeepers were killed in recent days.

An Israeli strike hit an apartment in Christian-majority Mansourieh, north of Beirut, on Tuesday, state media reported, in the first attack on the area since the outbreak of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

President Joseph Aoun affirmed Tuesday that Lebanon welcomes the support offered by French President Emmanuel Macron to "help it confront the ongoing Israeli escalation against Lebanese territory and to reach a ceasefire and begin negotiations based on the negotiating initiative announced a few days ago."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told senior U.S. officials that any future agreement between Washington and Tehran would not stop Israel's war in Lebanon, according to a report published Monday.

UN’s refugee agency said more than 200,000 people crossed from Lebanon into Syria in March after the Israeli war.

The vast majority – nearly 180,000 – were Syrians returning to their war-battered country, in addition to more than 28,000 Lebanese.

A strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, AFPTV's live broadcast showed, after the Israeli military renewed its warning for residents to leave as it attacks the area.

The strike came shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the end of the war against the armed group.

The EU on Tuesday demanded an investigation into attacks on United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon, after three Indonesian troops were killed amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

"We call for a thorough investigation to shed light on these grave attacks. These attacks are a grave violation of international law, are totally unacceptable and must stop immediately," EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

There is no problem between the United States and Lebanon's Shiites, whom "we view as having been and still being a fundamental political component in the country," a prominent diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut has been quoted as saying.

Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said Israel's military would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the end of the current war against the Hezbollah armed group.

"At the end of the operation, the IDF will establish itself in a security zone inside Lebanon, on a defensive line against anti-tank missiles, and will maintain security control over the entire area up to the Litani," Katz said in a video statement published by his ministry, referring to a river around 30 kilometers from the border.

At least nine people were killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes on south and east Lebanon.

The Israeli army targeted al-Qantara, al-Qasmiyeh, Yater, Deirkifa, Zawtar, Shehabiyyeh-Kfardounin, Majdalzoun, Mansouri, al-Qlayleh, Henniyyeh, Ebba, Rshaf, Kafra, Dayr a-Zahrani, Srifa, Ebl al-Siqi, Khiam, and Jebshit in south Lebanon, while artillery shells hit Wadi Serbine, Touline, Qabrikha, Majdal Selem and the outskirts of Beit Leef.