Iran live updates: Trump calls GOP backers of war powers resolution 'grandstanders'

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israeli attacks on Hezbollah will continue in southern Lebanon and that displaced Lebanese residents will not be allowed to return, despite Wednesday's agreement to implement a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Katz said that the Israel Defense Forces maintains "freedom of action," including in Beirut, where the threat of resumed Israeli strikes has caused tension between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House.

Katz described the agreement brokered between Israeli and Lebanese leaders in Washington this week as "a ceasefire for the removal of Hezbollah terrorists from all areas south of the Litani and the creation of a demilitarized zone, the IDF continuing its fire and activity in the area."

Katz said the IDF would remain in southern Lebanon, "including in the Beaufort area and without the return of the population," referring to the strategic Beaufort Ridge area -- where the Beaufort Castle, a historic Crusader fortification, is located -- just south of the city of Nabetieh.

Katz also indicated that the destruction of property in southern Lebanon would not stop, saying the military will continue the "thwarting of terrorist infrastructures in the area, and freedom of action for Israel with American backing to attack Beirut in response to firing on Israeli settlements and territory."

Katz said the military campaign created the conditions for this week's agreement to be reached, and "that may lead, depending on developments on the ground and our continued uncompromising stand on the interests of the state of Israel, to a political peace agreement with the state of Lebanon and, above all, to achieving real and permanent security for the residents of the north for the first time in 50 years."

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Othon Leyva

Iranian state television on Thursday broadcast the reading of a new statement purportedly written by Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he was appointed supreme leader in March, succeeding his father -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- who was killed in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The statement was read by an Iranian cleric to the public in the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the leader and founder of the Islamic Republic -- in Tehran, on the 37th anniversary of his death.

"Defending the oppressed is not only an Islamic duty, but a human and Iranian one as well. And the ruling establishment in Washington has a problem with this nation's identity, independence, and refusal to surrender," Khamenei's message read.

"The Iranian nation, with its new mission alongside the resistance front, has become a source of pride for free nations," it added.

"The [U.S.-led] hegemonic system which established Israel nearly 80 years ago does not bear a strong, independent and privileged Iran on the eastern borders of the void and fake 'Greater Israel,'" the statement continued.

Khamenei claimed that the U.S. and Israel had sustained "heavy blows" in its conflict with Iran.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeeper died on Thursday morning after sustaining injuries in a Wednesday night mortar attack on a position near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon, the force reported.

Two other peacekeepers were injured in the attack and are undergoing treatment at a UNIFIL base, the force said in posts to social media.

"UNIFIL has launched an investigation to ascertain the exact circumstances that led to this tragic incident," the force wrote.

"UNIFIL has detected an increasingly high number of trajectories and impacts in South Lebanon. The violence must end," it added.

Israel and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks through Wednesday night and into Thursday morning despite an agreement on the implementation of a ceasefire between Israeli and Lebanese leaders announced by the State Department on Wednesday.

The deal announced on Wednesday is contingent on a "complete cessation" of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all its forces from the South Litani Sector, according to the statement.

But both Israel and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks into Thursday.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post to X addressing southern Lebanese residents on Thursday, "The fighting in southern Lebanon continues as the Israel Defense Forces continue to target Hezbollah facilities and infrastructure located in your villages and nearby."

Adraee also issued fresh evacuation warnings for residents of southern Lebanon. “The IDF continues to target Hezbollah terror infrastructure located in and near the area south of the Zahrani River,” he wrote.

Lebanon's National News Agency said that three people were injured when a car was attacked while traveling in the south of the country. NNA also reported an Israeli airstrike on a town in the southern Tyre district.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed overnight attacks on "gatherings of Israeli enemy soldiers" in multiple locations in the south of the country.