The Israeli army ordered Tuesday the residents of 16 villages south of the Litani river to immediately evacuate and head northwards, as Israel expanded strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire.

The warning included the villages of Ghandourieh, Burj Qalaway, Qalaway, Sawaneh, Jmayjmeh, Safad al-Battikh, Baraashit, Shaqra, Aita al-Jabal, Tebnine, Sultanieh, Bir al-Salasel, Kfardounine, Kherbet Selem, Selaa, and Deirkifa.

President Joseph Aoun said Monday that negotiations with Israel are not treason and that "treason is dragging your country into war to serve foreign interests."

"Some criticize us for choosing to negotiate, claiming there is no national consensus," he said, clearly pointing at Hezbollah. "When you dragged the country into war, did you have national consensus then?" Aoun asked.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hezbollah is incapable of reaching a deal to end the war, urging the group to let the government do its job.

Geagea told al-Jadeed on Sunday evening that President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are doing "what must be done" to get Lebanon out of the predicament into which it was dragged.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday rejected Lebanon's planned direct talks with Israel, calling them a "grave sin" that will destabilize Lebanon, as he vowed to end the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon.

Qassem said Hezbollah will not give up its arms and people will return to their lands, vowing that Israeli troops will not remain on "a single inch of our occupied land".

The United Nations' UNIFIL peacekeeping force said it held a memorial in Beirut for an Indonesian peacekeeper who died on Friday after being wounded in a blast in south Lebanon last month.

A preliminary U.N. investigation found that an Israeli tank shell caused the explosion.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert began Sunday an official visit to Israel where she is scheduled to meet with senior Israeli officials.

Discussions will focus on opportunities to consolidate the cessation of hostilities and pave the way to lasting stability for communities in Lebanon and northern Israel.

Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern towns of Haddatha, Zibqine, al-Sultaniyeh and Kherbet Selm, as the Israeli army said it hit "buildings used by Hezbollah for military purposes."

The strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to strike Hezbollah hard after what the army said was a string of ceasefire violations.

The Israeli army said Saturday that it attacked overnight Hezbollah rocket launchpads in the southern towns of Deir al-Zahrani, Kfar Rumman and al-Smaiyeh north of the so-called "Yellow Line".

President Joseph Aoun told a non-official EU summit in Cyprus on Friday that Lebanon has engaged in a diplomatic negotiation process under the auspices of the U.S. and with the support of the European Union and Arab states in order to "reach a sustainable solution that puts an end to Israeli aggression and leads to a complete Israeli withdrawal ... enabling the state to extend its authority over all its territory."

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, announced on Friday that an Indonesian blue helmet died in hospital of wounds suffered on March 29 in an attack on his base.

UNIFIL deplored the passing of Pramudia, who was critically injured following a projectile explosion in his base in Adchit Al Qusayr on the night of 29 March.