At least 12 people were killed Thursday as Israel extended its offensive in Lebanon into a fourth day, carrying out airstrikes and ground incursions in border towns targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to state media.

The Health Ministry said two people were killed and two others injured in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the Zahle area in eastern Lebanon.

Three more people were killed when an Israeli drone struck a car on the Tyre-Naqoura road near the town of Qlailah in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Another Israeli airstrike hit a house at dawn in the southern town of Kfour in the Nabatieh district, killing the town's mayor and his wife, according to the agency.

Rescue teams were working to recover their bodies from beneath the rubble, the agency added.

NNA said another Israeli strike killed a Hamas member and his wife in the Beddawi refugee camp in the northern city of Tripoli. One of their daughters was injured and taken to a hospital.

Warplanes also carried out heavy airstrikes on the town of Qabrikha in the Marjayoun district in southern Lebanon, killing a man, wife and their son, according to the agency.

An Israeli airstrike also hit a house in the town of Shaabiyeh in Tyre, but no details are yet available about casualties.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war Monday, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during U.S.-Israeli strikes over the weekend.

Lebanon's state-run NNA reported several strikes early Thursday, including two in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut, where AFPTV footage showed smoke rising.

Israel's military earlier demanded residents leave the suburbs where the strikes were reported, warning it was about to attack targets it said were linked to Hezbollah. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Citing the Health Ministry, the NNA said that an Israeli strike on an apartment in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, killed at least two people and wounded a third.

And on a road in south Lebanon, a drone hit a vehicle, killing three people, the NNA reported, without speculating who was behind the strike.

Another "enemy" airstrike hit a house in Tyre district, the NNA said.

Israel has not claimed any of the latest attacks reported by the Lebanese news agency.

Meanwhile, in Israel's north near the border, repeated air raid alerts sent residents to shelters in several locations, with no immediate reports of impact or casualties.

Hezbollah's leader vowed Wednesday to keep up its fight against Israel and step up attacks, saying the group had targeted Israeli positions as far as Tel Aviv in at least 15 attacks.

"We are facing aggression ... our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender," Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared in his first speech since the latest round of fighting broke out.

Lebanese authorities announced at least 72 people killed, 437 wounded and 83,000 displaced from their homes since Monday.

'Direct' clashes

The Israeli military told people living south of Lebanon's Litani river – a large area stretching around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border – to evacuate, warning that the army was "compelled to take military action" against Hezbollah there.

Under a November 2024 truce, only U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army may bear arms south of the Litani river.

Israel was supposed to withdraw all of its forces, but has kept troops in areas it deems strategic and conducted regular airstrikes, citing Hezbollah's refusal to disarm.

On Tuesday, Israel's military said it was creating a buffer zone inside Lebanon to "protect Israeli residents."

Troops from three divisions, including infantry, armored and engineering units, were operating in southern Lebanon, Israel's army said late Wednesday.

AFP video footage showed what appeared to be two Israeli tanks amid residential buildings in Khiam, about 6 kilometers north of the border.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, reported Israeli "movements and military activities" on the Lebanese side, adding in a statement that they violate Lebanon's "sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Hezbollah said its fighters had engaged Israeli troops in "direct" clashes in Khiam, while Israel said two of its soldiers had been "moderately injured" by anti-tank fire.

Meanwhile, an airstrike hit a hotel in Hazmieh – the first reported Israeli attack on the predominantly Christian area in Beirut's suburbs, which is near the presidential palace and several foreign embassies.

Some rooms were gutted in the strike, and wounded people received treatment in the lobby, AFP images showed.

People fled through debris carrying suitcases past the Comfort Hotel's sign, which had fallen broken to the ground. It was not possible to determine who was targeted in the attack.

Southern suburbs targeted

A series of strikes Wednesday hit Beirut's southern suburbs following evacuation warnings from Israel's military.

One of the strikes targeted a building near a major hospital, according to an AFP photographer.

AFP footage showed thick plumes of smoke rising above buildings in the densely populated suburb, which some residents fled when the violence erupted on Monday.

In Aramoun and Saadiyat, south of Beirut – two towns outside of Hezbollah's traditional sphere of influence – the Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least six people.

AFP footage from Aramoun showed damaged cars and rescue workers carrying a wounded person on a stretcher.

Strikes also targeted a four-story building in the city of Baalbek, in Lebanon's east, far from the border where Hezbollah also has a strong presence.