Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people on Saturday, according to local authorities, even as fresh reports surfaced of a renewed ceasefire meant to curb ongoing violence that endangers the recent US-Iran agreement.

Lebanon civil defence teams said they moved 16 dead and 12 wounded to medical facilities after responding since early morning to repeated strikes in the Nabatieh district.

Renewed exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel on Friday led mediators to scrap planned talks in Switzerland that were set to expand the interim US-Iran deal reached earlier in the week into a fuller accord covering Iran nuclear activities.

The interim pact requires an end to fighting on every front, including Lebanon, yet it has drawn sharp criticism from Israeli ministers and analysts who say it prevents Israel from addressing Hezbollah threats.

The Israeli military stated its forces targeted Hezbollah sites after overnight rocket fire from the Iran-backed group.

One especially deadly strike hit a three-storey home in the southern town of Barish in the Tyre area, killing a family of four, according to a local official.

Fighting intensified on Friday when Hezbollah hit an Israeli tank, killing four soldiers including a senior officer; the group claimed the attack responded to an Israeli advance that broke an earlier truce.

Israeli strikes that followed killed 47 people across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley, local sources reported.

The precise status of the reported Friday evening ceasefire remains uncertain. Hezbollah has stated it will respect a truce if Israel does likewise, without confirming one is active.

Hezbollah parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah said the group retains the right to answer Israeli attacks, noting that any ceasefire must prevent enemy strikes on Lebanese villages or new occupations.

The latest round of conflict began shortly after US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, with Hezbollah launching rockets and drones toward northern Israel while Israeli forces seized territory in southern Lebanon to create a buffer zone.

Continued violence and diplomatic uncertainty over the Iran-US talks have increased doubts that a lasting solution can be reached in a regional war that has claimed at least 7,000 lives, driven up energy prices and risked worldwide economic disruption.

The interim US-Iran agreement signed this week has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies before Tehran restricted most shipping at the start of the conflict.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah signed the deal, which demands a halt to military operations in Lebanon and respect for the country sovereignty.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to keep forces in southern Lebanon until threats to Israel are removed. Hezbollah insists it will stop attacks only after Israel commits to full withdrawal, a step Iran also ties to the agreement.

Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Saturday that mediator-led consultations on the next negotiation phase continue, noting the initial digital signing means the Switzerland meeting was not urgent and plans are advancing for talks in coming days.

The interim deal allows 60 days, extendable, to reach a nuclear agreement, though many observers doubt such a complex pact can be completed so quickly; the 2015 nuclear deal took more than 18 months.

The accord offers Iran major incentives, including eventual removal of all international sanctions and a $300bn fund for postwar reconstruction.

Tehran has already secured some economic relief that may ease its severe financial strains, as the US lifted its port blockade and permitted free oil sales following the interim signing.