Beirut:
A local official in Lebanon and state media said an Israeli attack on a southern village on Sunday killed several family members, with Hezbollah fighters announcing rocket fire in retaliation.
Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group have regularly exchanged cross-border fire since the Palestinian group Hamas' unprecedented October attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel pushing deeper into Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah has stepped up its rocket and drone attacks on military positions in northern Israel.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the attack in Mais al-Jabal “killed four people from one family,” updating a previously reported death toll of three killed in the raid that the report said was carried out by Israeli aircraft was carried out.
It identified them as a man, a woman and their children, aged 12 and 21, and said two other people were injured.
A Lebanese security source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that “four civilians” were killed in the attack.
Abdelmoneim Shukair, municipal leader of Mais al-Jabal, had earlier told AFP that three people had been killed, saying they were a couple and their son.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired “dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the heinous crime committed by the Israeli enemy in Mais al-Jabal.”
It later said it had fired dozens more Katyusha rockets at Israeli troops and vehicles across the border “as part of the response” to the Mais al-Jabal attack.
The Israeli military told AFP that “about forty rockets were identified from Lebanon, “some of which were intercepted.”
“No casualties have been reported at this time,” it added.
Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that only a ceasefire in Gaza will end its attacks on Israel, which it says support Gaza residents and its ally Hamas.
Both the United States and France have made diplomatic efforts to calm tensions at the Lebanese-Israeli border.
At least 390 people have been killed in Lebanon in nearly seven months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also more than 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)