New meeting to come after rare direct talks between the countries mediated by US; Netanyahu earlier says Israel about to ‘overwhelm’ part of southern Lebanon

• US and Iran in indirect talks to extend two-week ceasefire

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.

Donald Trump says the leaders of Israel and Lebanon will hold talks on Thursday, after the countries’ first face-to-face diplomatic negotiations in decades.

Pakistan’s army chief met with Iran’s foreign minister in Tehran on Wednesday in the latest diplomatic move to ease Middle East tensions and arrange a second round of US-Iran negotiations. Donald Trump said earlier that the war was “very close to over”.

Leavitt said a second round of US-Iran talks would “very likely” take place in Islamabad again and that Pakistan was “the only mediator” in the discussions.

Major Wall Street stock indices extended an upward climb on optimism about a US-Iran agreement.

Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss a ceasefire after the Israel-Lebanon talks mediated by the US in Washington on Tuesday. But the Israeli military continues to strike the country, with Netanyahu saying Israel was about to “overwhelm” the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, calling it a Hezbollah stronghold.

Four Lebanese rescue workers were killed in consecutive Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanon village of Mayfadoun on Wednesday, paramedic groups said. Six others were wounded.

The US military’s Middle East command Centcom said it stopped 10 vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of the US naval blockade. But ship tracking data indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.

The finance ministers of 11 countries including the UK and Japan called for “coordinated emergency support” from the IMF and World Bank to help countries hit by disruptions from the Middle East war.