Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon killed 31 people yesterday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel said it was intensifying attacks despite a truce in its war with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it faced Israeli troops entering the southern town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, as the Israeli military said it was expanding its ground operations.
In a statement, the health ministry said 31 people, including at least four children and three women, were killed in attacks and 40 wounded.
Fourteen were killed in Burj al-Shamali near Tyre, five in Kawthariyat al-Riz, four in Habbush, six in Maarakeh and two in Salaa.
Airstrikes were reported in the southern city of Nabatieh following an unprecedented warning on the city which saw plumes of smoke rising from various locations within it.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said one of the strikes hit the vicinity of a public hospital, causing "significant damage to the hospital's departments".
The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for at least 50 southern and eastern towns and villages yesterday, including Nabatieh city.
An Israeli military official said that troops had begun operating beyond the Israel-announced "Yellow Line" in south Lebanon, which runs around 10km deep inside Lebanese territory.
As Israel's operations moved deeper into south Lebanon, Hezbollah said its fighters confronted Israeli troops trying to advance into a town that overlooks Nabatieh city yesterday.
Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters repelled an Israeli force early yesterday that had moved toward Zawtar al-Sharqiyah after airstrikes and heavy artillery fire.
The group claimed responsibility for a series of drone and rocket fires on Israeli forces in the town, and said it engaged directly with them.
In eastern Lebanon, the health ministry said "yesterday's Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Mashghara in West Bekaa resulted in a preliminary toll of 11 martyrs, including two girls and a woman, and 15 wounded, including a child".
Rescuers were still clearing the rubble in the eastern town, the ministry added.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) also reported several Israeli strikes across the south and east.
A strike on Srifa in the south killed a rescuer and wounded two others from the Risala Scouts association, linked to the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, according to the health ministry, raising the rescuer death toll in the war to 121.
The cumulative toll from Israeli attacks since 2 March, when Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel in response to the start of the Iran war, has reached 3,213 dead and 9,737 wounded, acording to figures from Lebanon's health ministry.
The Israeli military said that 10 of its soldiers had been killed since the 16 April ceasefire, six of them by Hezbollah's explosive drones.
The World Health Organization has said at least 608 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce.
