The Israeli military said the Wednesday strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force unit, escalating tensions despite a truce that began on April 17 and was intended to halt weeks of cross-border fighting.

Lebanese state media reported renewed Israeli strikes on several towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Thursday, while the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for residents in three villages north of the Litani River, beyond areas occupied by Israeli ground forces.

In the southern city of Nabatieh, strikes hit a shopping center and nearby residential buildings, according to Lebanese state media and an AFP correspondent at the scene.Airstrikes also targeted the nearby village of Toul, where two emergency responders affiliated with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee were wounded while responding to an earlier strike, spokesperson Mahmoud Karaki said.

Karaki said the team’s ambulance sustained heavy damage in the attack.Photographs from Beirut’s southern suburbs showed upper floors of a residential building destroyed, with rescue teams continuing search operations through the debris on Thursday morning.

Despite the strike on its stronghold near the Lebanese capital, Hezbollah has not announced retaliatory action.The Israeli military separately said four Israeli soldiers were wounded on Wednesday, one seriously, after what it described as an “explosive drone impact” in southern Lebanon.

Although the ceasefire formally halted major hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, exchanges of fire and Israeli airstrikes have continued in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah has periodically claimed attacks against Israeli forces stationed in border areas.

The conflict intensified after fighting erupted on March 2, drawing Lebanon deeper into regional tensions linked to the broader confrontation involving Iran and its allied groups.According to Lebanese authorities, more than 2,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began.

Israel’s military says 17 soldiers and one civilian contractor have died during operations in southern Lebanon.

The deadliest strike hit the town of Habboush, where eight people were killed, including a child and two women, and 21 others were wounded, the ministry said. An earlier evacuation warning had been issued by the Israeli military, which urged residents to move at least one kilometer away and said it would act “forcefully” against what it described as Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire agreement.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes launched heavy strikes less than an hour after the warning, while an AFP photographer at the scene said thick clouds of smoke rose above the town following the bombardment.

Additional strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, including two women, and wounded four others, while another strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and injured seven, according to the ministry.Israel has continued military operations in Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire intended to halt more than six weeks of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel retains the right to respond to what it defines as planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.The Israeli military has maintained operations inside a so-called “Yellow Line,” a roughly 10-kilometer-deep zone along Lebanon’s southern border, where troops have carried out demolitions and detonations of buildings and infrastructure.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli forces on Friday demolished a monastery and a school run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun, following earlier destruction of homes, shops and roads. It also reported artillery shelling and strikes in other areas, including around Tyre and Shamaa.

Hezbollah said it launched a series of retaliatory attacks on Israeli troops and military sites in southern Lebanon, describing them as a response to repeated Israeli ceasefire violations.The group entered the wider regional conflict in March by firing rockets into Israel following the U.S.-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, according to the group’s previous statements.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 had risen to more than 2,600 people, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.Humanitarian agencies also voiced concern over the safety of rescue teams operating in conflict zones. Xavier Castellanos, under-secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Lebanese Red Cross volunteers were carrying out missions under constant threat.

“When they go on a mission, they fear for their lives,” Castellanos told reporters near Beirut, adding that two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics were among those killed in Israeli strikes.He said attacks on humanitarian workers trying to save lives were “absolutely unacceptable.”

The warning was issued by the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who said civilians should leave areas near Hezbollah positions, facilities and weapons.

“The military does not intend to harm you, and out of concern for your safety, you are required to evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the specified area toward the Sidon District,” Adraee said in a post on X.“Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities or their weapons is endangering their life,” he added.

The areas listed in the evacuation warning were located outside or along the edge of the so-called “Yellow Line,” a roughly 10-kilometer-deep strip of Lebanese territory along the border where Israeli troops are currently operating.

The warning came as tensions continued despite a ceasefire agreed earlier this month between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, with both sides accusing each other of repeated violations.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said it launched interceptors in two separate incidents against what it described as suspicious aerial targets detected in areas where Israeli forces were operating in southern Lebanon.It said the targets did not cross into Israeli territory.

The military also said one Israeli soldier was seriously wounded and another lightly injured on Monday after an explosive drone struck during operational activity in southern Lebanon.“This incident constitutes a violation of the ceasefire understandings by the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” the military said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Hezbollah’s rockets and drones remained a major threat requiring continued military action, adding that Israeli strikes would persist.

Hezbollah entered the wider Middle East conflict on March 2 by launching rockets toward Israel, saying the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Since then, the cross-border fighting has displaced large numbers of civilians in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, while international mediators have struggled to preserve the ceasefire and prevent a broader regional escalation.