Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Tuesday killed at least 31 people and wounded 40 others, the Lebanese health ministry said, marking one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was deepening its operations in Lebanon, advancing beyond the "yellow line" in the south that marks occupied territory.
Fourteen people, including two children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Burj Al Shamali in Lebanon's Tyre district, reported Lebanon's National News Agency.
Five people were killed in Israeli strikes on Kawthariyet Al Rez, in the Saida district, six were killed in Maarakeh, and two were killed in Selaa, in the Tyre district. Four people, including two children, were killed in Haboush, in the Nabatieh district.
Security sources told Reuters that more than 120 Israeli strikes had pounded southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday. The Israeli army also issued displacement orders for dozens of Lebanese towns and villages, as well as the city of Nabatieh.
Some strikes hit near the Beaufort Castle, a nearly 900-year-old fortress in southern Lebanon that Unesco describes as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the region. At least three strikes also hit near Lebanon's largest water reservoir at the Qaraoun Dam in east Lebanon, state media said.
Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli army was operating with "large forces on the ground" and "fortifying the security zone". Fears of an enhanced campaign came when he said he had ordered the military to “press the pedal even harder”.
The yellow line, which includes more than 50 border villages, was proclaimed by Israel shortly after a US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon came into effect last month.
Dozens of villages within the yellow line have been razed as a result of Israeli bombardment and demolitions of homes and civilian infrastructure.
Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli forces and tanks advancing towards the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar Al Sharqiya with explosive drones, rockets and artillery.
The Israeli military on Wednesday morning said a projectile launched from Lebanon fell in an open area in Israel after sirens sounded in several northern areas, but no injuries were reported.
According to Lebanon's health ministry, the death toll from the latest Israeli offensive had reached 3,213 and more than 9,700 wounded. The war resumed when Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel in response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Israeli military said that 10 of its soldiers had been killed since the April 16 ceasefire, six of them by Hezbollah's explosive drones. The World Health Organisation said at least 608 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce.
