Lebanon's judiciary agreed Tuesday to the release on bail of more than $20 million of former central bank governor Riad Salameh, detained for nearly a year on embezzlement charges, judicial officials said.

Salameh, 75, who headed the central bank for three decades, faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus said Tuesday that Lebanese authorities must put into "action" their decision to disarm Hezbollah, adding that Israel would respond in kind to any government steps.

"We're all greatly encouraged by the historic decision of the government a few weeks ago, but now it's not about words, now it's about action," she told journalists at Lebanon's presidential palace in Baabda.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that his country would approve the extension of United Nations peacekeepers' mandate in Lebanon for one more year.

With the U.N. Security Council discussing the future of the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), whose mandate ends on Sunday, Barrack told journalists from Lebanon's presidential palace: "The United States' position is we will extend for one year."

Amnesty International said Tuesday that the Israeli army's extensive destruction of civilian property in south Lebanon, including after a ceasefire with Hezbollah was struck, should be investigated as a war crime.

The November 27 truce largely ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops and conducted a major bombing campaign.

A diplomatic row between the United States and France escalated on Monday when Washington decided to stand firmly behind its ambassador's criticism of the French response to a rising tide of antisemitism.

Protesters calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the return of hostages being held there took to the streets in Israel on Tuesday morning ahead of a security cabinet meeting scheduled for the evening.

Iran vowed reciprocal action on Tuesday after Australia expelled its ambassador over accusations that Tehran was behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Monday his government would request a vote of confidence on September 8 as he sought parliamentary backing for his battle against soaring public debt.

An extraordinary session of the National Assembly would be asked to conform the "confirm the scale of the effort", Bayrou told a news conference, as the government seeks 44 billion euros (51 billion dollars) in spending cuts.

The United Nations insisted Monday that journalists and hospitals should never be targeted, after an Israeli strike on a hospital killed at least 20 people including five journalists.

"The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world -- not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice," U.N. rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement, insisting: "Journalists are not a target. Hospitals are not a target."

The Iranian and Russian presidents discussed Tehran's nuclear program on Monday as European powers threaten to reimpose sanctions on Tehran over the moribund 2015 deal.

Britain, France and Germany have threatened to trigger a "snapback mechanism" to reintroduce U.N. sanctions that were lifted under the agreement unless Iran agrees to curb its uranium enrichment and restore cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspectors.