PARIS/BEIRUT - World powers raised $1 billion to ease the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and support its army at a conference in Paris on Thursday, with France's foreign minister urging Israel to heed the message to cease fire and focus on diplomacy.

Some 70 government delegations and 15 international organizations met in Paris to help Lebanon, but a low-level US presence and its looming election dimmed prospects for a swift halt to fighting.

"The message (for Israel) is simple: Cease fire!" France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told a news conference, reiterating that a Franco-American proposal for a temporary truce was still on the table.

Barrot said more than $800 million, including $300 million from Washington, had been raised primarily to help up to one million displaced with food, healthcare and education.

A further $200 million would go to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), deemed as the guarantor of internal stability, and also vital to implementing 2006 UN Security Council resolution 1701 that calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

ALSO READ: Qatari PM: US, Israeli delegations to hold Gaza truce talks in Doha

France has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with Washington in trying to secure a ceasefire, although the two allies differ on approach regarding 1701.

After Israel rebuffed a 21-day ceasefire plan in September, Paris' influence has been limited since Israel launched its large-scale onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah that has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced at least 1.2 million.

"The storm we are currently witnessing is unlike any other, because it carries the seeds of total destruction," Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told delegates, pleading for more pressure to be put on Israel.

Opening the conference, President Emmanuel Macron said there must not be a return to past cycles of violence.

"More damage, more victims, more strikes will not enable the end of terrorism or ensure security for everyone," he said.

Despite the repeated calls for a ceasefire, there was no sign on Thursday of the conflict abating. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike near the border, the Lebanese army said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken skipped Paris and appeared to make little progress during a tour of the Middle East, a final push for peace before next month's US election.

Strengthen UN forces, Lebanese army

The UN Security Council resolution has never been fully implemented and amid a two-year political power vacuum and collapsed economy, the Lebanese army has no real weight to play its role in the south of the country.

"The final objective is to recruit, train and equip 6,000 new LAF units," an Italian diplomatic source said, adding that Rome would soon organize its own conference focused on this.

Italy has some 1,000 troops as part of the 10,000-strong UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

ALSO READ: Israeli strike kills Lebanese troops as France rallies support for army

Diplomats say that once there is a ceasefire the mission will need to be made more robust.

"Let's not reinvent the wheel. We have to make it work," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, adding that amending its mandate would need a new UN Security Council vote.

Borrell said there was scope to increase UNIFIL's troop numbers to 15,000 under the current mandate.

"The objective this time is to find conditions that ensure the lasting application of 1701 so that peace returns on both sides", something easier said than done, Barrot said.

But highlighting the differences in approach between Paris and Washington, two diplomats said Washington's representative had put the blame squarely on Hezbollah when addressing delegates, saying it was time for the militant group to disarm.

European and Arab nations are concerned that Washington has not called for an immediate ceasefire and fear the administration will not alter its position before the election on Nov 5.

"France wants a ceasefire and believes that Hezbollah will not be eliminated," said a Middle East diplomat. "The US wants the destruction of Hezbollah and is encouraging the Israelis to go further."

Journalists killed

An Israeli strike early on Friday morning killed at least three journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's health ministry and local media reported.

Those killed were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda of the pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen and camera operator Wissam Qassem, who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar, the outlets said in separate statements.

The strikes made it the deadliest day for media in a year of hostilities between the Israeli military and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which in general denies deliberately attacking journalists.

Five journalists had been killed in previous Israeli strikes in Lebanon during the conflict, including Reuters visual journalist Issam Abdallah.

Hasbaya is a town inhabited by both Muslims and Christians. There have been attacks on its outskirts in recent weeks, but Friday's, at around 3 am (midnight GMT), was the first on the town itself.

"This is a war crime," Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said. At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News, Al-Jazeera and Lebanese broadcasters, were staying at the guesthouses.

"We heard the airplane flying very low - that's what woke us up - and then we heard the two missiles," Muhammad Farhat, a reporter with the Lebanese outlet Al-Jadeed, told Reuters.

He said several bungalows had been damaged. His footage showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked "Press".

This is the aftermath of a deadly Israeli strike on a school in Gaza Thursday.

"We had been reporting from there for about a month without anything happening. I don't even know how I climbed out from under the rubble," Farhat said.

Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, said on the channel's X account that the attack was "deliberate".

"We hold the occupation (Israel) fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews including the Al-Mayadeen team were targeted," bin Jiddo said.