LEBANON and Israel were due to begin a second session of direct talks in Washington today to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah resistance group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbours.

The meeting between Lebanese ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter is the second between the two diplomats, the first such direct talks between the two countries in three decades.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that contacts are ongoing to extend the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect Friday.

Ms Hamadeh will put forward an extension of the ceasefire during the meeting and ask for an end to ongoing Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, President Aoun said in comments released by his office.

Preparations are ongoing for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel aimed at “fully” stopping Israeli attacks, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, President Aoun said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm Hezbollah ahead of negotiations in Washington.

Mr Saar said: “We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” adding that Lebanon was a “failed state.”

“The obstacle to peace and normalisation between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”

But the Israelis have continued their military operation in Lebanon. Tel Aviv has insisted it intends to clear southern Lebanon of its population and to occupy it as a “buffer zone.” Actions many experts have described as crimes against humanity.

During an assault on a house in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a journalist, Amal Khalil, was killed.

Ms Khalil had taken cover in the house in the village of al-Tiri while reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah war where she was killed in a second strike following the killing of two people during an earlier attack.

Israel’s military said individuals in the village had violated the ceasefire, endangering its troops. Israel denied that it targets journalists or that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area.

“Killing of journalists is a crime and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law,” said Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos.