Israel's raids into Lebanon are limited and will not extend to Beirut, Israeli officials have said, despite fears of an all-out ground invasion across the Lebanese border.
Israel said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in "limited, localised, and targeted ground raids" against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages that posed "an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel".
Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon overnight for reconnaissance and probing operations.
Lebanese troops also pulled back from positions along the border, the source added.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had launched rocket and artillery attacks against Israeli troops at positions within Israel, and made no mention of Israeli forces within Lebanon.
The Israeli military issued a warning to citizens not to move in their vehicles from the area north of the Litani river to its south. It has previously said it wants to clear Hezbollah from south of the river.
Sirens sounded in central Israel following the launch of projectiles from southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it fired missiles at the headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and at a military intelligence unit on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Steady escalation of conflict
Israel had earlier told the United States limited ground operations would be focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon near the border with Israel, the US State Department said.
Asked to confirm they were limited ground operations, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "That is our understanding."
It comes as Israel's defence minister all but confirmed plans to launch a large-scale ground invasion of Lebanon — although not the timing of it — as the country's military continued gathering near the border.
The operation aims to clear areas near the so-called Blue Line, which separates the states, of Hezbollah infrastructure.
Such a move would be the first time since 2006 that Israel had invaded Lebanon.
It would also signal yet another escalation in its conflict with Hezbollah just days after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) assassinated the militant group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut.
In a speech to troops on Monday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: "The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the end."
He said Israel would use "all the means that may be required ... from the air, from the sea and on land. Good luck."
His statement appeared to confirm what many observers had been predicting.
Along with the statements from officials pointing towards that happening, video has emerged of more Israeli tanks gathering near the border and the IDF has mobilised multiple brigades of reserve soldiers to serve around the country — clear signs all pointing in one direction.
Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the Australian government, says it is ready for a potential Israeli ground invasion.
The militant group's deputy Naim Qassem on Monday gave a televised address — his first since Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike late last week.
"We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement," he said.
He also said the group would pick a new leader soon.
Hezbollah is particularly influential in southern Lebanon — an area that borders Israel, and from where it launches many of its attacks.
On Monday, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced his government was prepared to send its military to the border in a bid to stop Hezbollah's attacks as part of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Strikes in Gaza kill 21, local authorities say
Israeli air strikes killed at least 21 people in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said, and fighting ramped up as the Israeli military said it had been targeting command centres used by Islamist militant group Hamas.
Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat, one of the enclave's eight historic refugee camps.
There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli army on the two strikes.
Another strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, medics added.
The Israeli military said in a statement the air strike targeted Hamas militants operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Al-Shejaia School.
It accused Hamas of using the civilian population and facilities for military purposes, which Hamas denies.
Israel continues air strikes in Lebanon
Meanwhile, the IDF's air strikes in Lebanon continued on Monday, with multiple locations around the country struck again, mainly in the south.
A Reuters reporter witnessed a flash of light and a series of loud blasts about an hour after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Lebanese capital.
In the past 24 hours, at least 95 people had been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon's southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said early on Tuesday.
An Israeli attack on a home in the southern Lebanese town of Daoudiya killed 10 people from a family and wounded five others, Lebanon's National News Agency is reporting.
Aid groups have raised alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation in Lebanon with more than 1 million civilians displaced across Lebanon so far in what Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called "the largest displacement that may have happened".
The attacks have so far killed about 1,000 people, according to the Lebanese government.
ABC/wires
