Senior US officials held talks in Israel to reach a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, on a day when more civilians were killed in both countries in the years-long war.

Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who earlier on Thursday had expressed optimism about a quick settlement “in hours or days”, said Israel’s “continued escalation” in his country “does not inspire optimism”.

The country’s health ministry said Israeli attacks killed 45 people in the past 24 hours, amid bombardments in the northeastern Beqaa Valley and infantry fighting in the south. In one Bekaa village, eight people from the same family were murdered.

In northern Israel, seven people were killed by rocket fire from Lebanon, including four Thai farm workers, marking the worst civilian losses in Israel in a single day since Israel began its ground incursions into Lebanon on October 1.

Israel issued its second evacuation order for the town of Baalbek and two surrounding villages in the Bekaa Valley on Thursday afternoon, and carried out a series of airstrikes on the village of Durous a few hours later. The evacuation orders had led to a mass exodus of residents from the city, which is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Despite the evacuation order and the danger of Israeli bombardments, some residents stayed behind. In Bednayel, a village on the outskirts of Baalbek, rescuers pulled a body from the rubble of a collapsed building that was razed in an Israeli airstrike the night before. Eight people from the same family were killed in the strike.

“The whole village was shaking. I came here and got my brother out of the rubble. I took out pieces of him,” said Fadi, a 30-year-old gaming cafe owner whose home was destroyed and family killed in the airstrike.

He dismissed rumors of a lull in fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, saying: “We don’t want a ceasefire, we want to pray in the al-Aqsa mosque (in Jerusalem). I want revenge, from the person who dropped the rocket to the one who gave the order, (Benjamin) Netanyahu.”

The bombing and evacuation order also affected the operations of the nearby Dar Al Amal hospital, which is on the edge of Israel’s designated operations area in Baalbek. Of the hospital’s usual 700 employees, only 350 remain. The rest have been displaced, said hospital director Ali Allam. Three nurses have been killed in Israeli airstrikes last month while off duty.

Two senior US envoys, Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, met Netanyahu at his office on Thursday to discuss a proposed ceasefire for Lebanon. Later, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had “thanked our American friends for their efforts” but had “made it clear that the most important point is not this or that agreement on paper, but Israel’s ability and determination to finalize the agreement and thwart any threat to his country. security from Lebanon, in a way that will return our residents safely to their homes.”

According to Israeli state broadcaster Kan, the US proposed deal is similar to the one that ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Israel would withdraw its troops from Lebanon within the first week of the deal. The Lebanese army would be deployed along the border, while Hezbollah would end its armed presence in the south.

Israel would still have the right to attack Hezbollah in self-defense and take steps to ensure that Hezbollah does not re-establish itself in the south, while Israeli aircraft could continue to conduct aerial reconnaissance over Lebanon. It is far from clear that such conditions would be acceptable to the Lebanese government or to Hezbollah.

Thursday’s Hezbollah attack on Israel came in two major salvos, the first in the morning when rocket fire fell on fields around the northern town of Metula, close to the Lebanese border. The area has been evacuated, but farmers are still allowed to work their land during the day, usually with migrant workers. Four of the five victims of the Metula barrage were Thai migrant workers and the fifth was an Israeli farmer.

A few hours later, a second volley of 25 rockets hit an olive grove near Haifa, where people had gathered for the harvest. Israeli health authorities said a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were killed.

In the West Bank, Palestinian authorities said three people had been killed in an Israeli raid. The Israeli military said it targeted militants in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and had killed a Hamas militant involved in planning attacks.

A senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse that the group has rejected any proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel, an idea that reportedly emerged during talks in Doha this weekend. The group is calling for a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.