President Joseph Aoun on Friday told European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, that "the support provided by the EU to Lebanon must be channeled into exerting pressure to compel Israel to cease fire and refrain from demolishing and bulldozing homes in the villages it occupies in the south, as well as from targeting paramedics, journalists and civil defense personnel."

More than half of Lebanon's population depends on humanitarian aid, a European Union official said on Friday, as Israel continues its attacks on the country despite a ceasefire in the two-month-long war.

"At present, more than three million people, meaning more than half of the population here in Lebanon, depend on humanitarian aid to survive," EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib told reporters after meeting President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.

By 4 May, the Ministry of Social Affairs had documented the displacement of over 1.1 million individuals, including 124,231 people in 625 shelters.

Active hostilities continued in several areas in the south of Lebanon, despite the ceasefire.

Any agreement between the United States and Iran can also help lower tensions in Lebanon, where a separate truce was under renewed strain after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed a commander from militant group Hezbollah on Wednesday.

But recent violence threatens to unravel the fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed a member of the civil defense, the rescue organization said Friday, a day after another strike killed a rescuer from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.

In a statement, the civil defense said their rescuer was killed "as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted him" on the road between Rashaya and Kfarshouba, despite the truce in effect.

Lebanon and Israel will hold a new round of talks on May 14-15 in Washington on seeking a peace deal, a U.S. official said.

"There will be talks between Lebanon and Israel Thursday and Friday next week in Washington," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

There is a U.S. effort to de-escalate Israeli actions in Lebanon in preparation for consolidating the ceasefire and moving to the second phase of negotiations, a Lebanese official told Al-Jazeera on Thursday.

A dozen U.S. Democratic Senators have called for the U.S. Central Command to answer questions about American coordination with Israel in declaring broad " evacuation zones " in Lebanon and Iran, alleging that the practice may violate international law.

The letter underlines how the Democratic Party — both its leaders and the base — has grown increasingly critical of Israel.

The British and Canadian Ambassadors to Lebanon co-hosted a reception in Beirut to mark Lebanese Media Martyrs’ Day and World Press Freedom Day. They paid tribute to journalists who have lost their lives reporting on the devastating conflict, and to those who continue to report under challenging and dangerous conditions.

The event was attended by Minister of Information Dr Paul Morcos, former Minister of Information Ziad Makari, Lebanese and foreign journalists, Media Freedom Coalition Ambassadors, with Finland as co-chair this year, MPs and NGOs. The attendees marked the gathering with a moment of silence for all the journalists who died in the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut the previous day, saying "no terrorist is immune" from Israeli strikes.

"Last night, we eliminated, in the heart of Beirut, the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan force," Netanyahu said, in a video released by his office, referring to an elite Hezbollah unit.