A depositor armed with an assault weapon and a hand grenade took dozens of employees and clients hostage at a Jeb Jannine bank on Tuesday, the National News Agency said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will call for a Cabinet session on Monday, MP Ali Darwish, a member of Miqati’s bloc, said.

He added that the state budget will be discussed in Cabinet next Wednesday or Thursday.

Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi on Monday stressed that the hole that was discovered in a plane belonging to Greece’s Aegean Airlines did not happen in Beirut.

Dozens of Lebanese, including families of Beirut port explosion victims, rallied Monday outside the Justice Palace in support of Judge Tarek Bitar after he was forced to suspend his work as a lead investigator into the Beirut port blast.

Protesters held portraits of their loved ones who died in the explosion.

As part of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP), fourteen NGO projects funded under the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) will start this month providing Child Protection (CP), Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and Education assistance for those most vulnerable populations affected by the ongoing multi-faceted crisis in Lebanon, the U.N. said in a statement.

"Media reports that the United States has brokered an energy deal between Israel and Lebanon are false," the U.S. State Department tweeted.

Israeli Channel 12 news had said that the U.S. had brokered an agreement for Israel to indirectly supply natural gas to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati denied Monday the presence of a bargain with the families of the port victims, in return for Cabinet meetings' resumption.

Miqati's media office negated in a statement that the Prime Minister had coordinated with the families of the victims to file new lawsuits against lead investigator into the case Judge Tarek Bitar.

Imad Kreidiyeh, the head of state-run telecom provider OGERO, on Sunday threatened to resign over the authority’s “lack of capabilities,” after a diesel shortage led to an hours-long communications outage in half of Beirut.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi warned Sunday against disrupting the elections for “personal and suspicious” goals.

He urged all Lebanese parties to prioritize Lebanon’s interest and to participate in the elections for change not for elimination.

Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah said Sunday that the Shiite Duo decided to return to Cabinet for the sake of Lebanon and the Lebanese.

“We have decided to take this step to search for solutions,” Fadlallah said, adding that “if the boycott will worsen the financial and economic situation, we are ready to end it for the sake of the people.”