BEIRUT >> An Israeli airstrike slammed into a densely populated residential area in Lebanon’s capital near key government and diplomatic buildings late Monday, killing at least five people as the U.S. pressed ahead with cease-fire efforts.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhood — where local U.N. headquarters and Lebanon’s parliament and prime minister’s office are located.

Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to severely weaken the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and end its barrages in Israel that the militants have said are in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.

Cease-fire reported

Lebanon and the Hezbollah militia have reached agreement on a U.S. plan for a cease-fire with Israel, Reuters reported late Monday.

Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, told the news agency that the government gave its response to Lebanon’s U.S. ambassador on Monday.

A U.S. official cautioned that negotiations were ongoing. Amos Hochstein, one of President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East advisers, was on his way to Beirut.

Khalil told Reuters that the accord, under the terms of a United Nations resolution, would call for no Hezbollah forces between the border with Israel and the Litani River.

Hezbollah has allowed Berri to negotiate on its behalf, Reuters said, adding that Israel had not commented on the cease-fire proposal.

Displaced population

Many areas in central Beirut, including Zoqaq al-Blat, have become a refuge for many of the roughly 1 million people displaced by the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut. The strike also occurred near a Hussainiye, a Shia mosque.

The target of the airstrike remained unclear, and the Israeli army did not issue a prior warning.

It was the second consecutive day of Israeli strikes on central Beirut after more than a month-long pause. On Sunday, a strike in the area of Ras el-Nabaa killed Hezbollah media spokesperson Mohammed Afif, along with six other people, including a woman. Later that day, four people were killed in a separate strike in the commercial district of Mar Elias.

The Israeli military has not said what the target of that strike was.

2006 U.N. resolution

Minutes after Monday’s strike, Lebanon’s 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, ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah and was intended to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. However, the resolution’s full implementation has faced challenges from both sides.

The resolution is again on the table as part of an American proposal for a cease-fire deal, aiming to end 13 months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli ground forces, who invaded southern Lebanon on Oct. 1, would fully withdraw from Lebanon, where the Lebanese army and the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL would be the exclusive armed presence south of Lebanon’s Litani River. Hezbollah would withdraws from the area.

Israel was said to be pushing for guarantees it can continue to act militarily against Hezbollah if needed, a demand the Lebanese are unlikely to accept. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Israel would continue attacking Hezbollah infrastructure while the U.S. and other countries led negotiations for the cease-fire. “The military campaign will continue until the immediate threat from Lebanon is removed,” he said.

Rocket attacks continue

Also on Monday, Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles against Israel. A rocket that hit the northern Israeli city of Shfaram killed one woman and injured 10, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire — 80% of them in the past eight weeks — according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. In Israel, 77 people, including 31 soldiers, have been killed by Hezbollah projectiles, while over 50 soldiers have been killed in the Israeli ground offensive.

Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah in order to ensure that thousands of Israelis can return to their homes near the border.

This report contains information from Bloomberg News.