BEIRUT >> The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate a city and other communities in southern Lebanon that are north of a U.N.-declared buffer zone, signaling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group.

Israel has told people to leave Nabatieh, a provincial capital, and other communities north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the U.N. Security Council after the two sides fought a war in 2006. Each side accuses the other of violating the resolution.

At least nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. Meanwhile, the region is bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

First responder casualties

The World Health Organization reported that 28 health workers were killed in the past day in Lebanon, and access to medical care is becoming limited as three dozen health facilities closed in the south and five hospitals were either partly or fully evacuated in Beirut.

The Lebanese health minister said Israeli strikes that hit nine hospitals and 45 health care centers violate international law and treaties.

“International laws are clear in protecting these people — I mean, paramedics,” Firas Abiad said. “Who gave Israel the right to be the judge and the executioner at the same time?”

The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike wounded four of its paramedics and killed a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south. It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted Thursday despite coordinating its movements with U.N. peacekeepers. There was no comment from the Israeli military.

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut late Wednesday killed nine people, including seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders.

Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.

There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament.

8 killed in West Bank

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 18 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank. It was the deadliest strike in the occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October.

The Israeli army said the strike killed Hamas’ leader in Tulkarem. Hamas condemned the strike but did not confirm if any of its members were killed.

The military said the strike was carried out in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service, but it gave no details on the target. Tulkarem is a militant stronghold in the northern West Bank. It remained unclear how many people were wounded in the blast.

Violence has flared across the Israeli-occupied territory since the Israeli-Hamas war erupted last October. Tulkarem and other northern Palestinian cities have seen some of the worst violence. Palestinian militant groups are active across the northern West Bank, areas where the Palestinian Authority has a limited foothold.

In southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters.

There was no comment from Hezbollah. But if the claim is true, it would mark the latest in a string of assassinations of top Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Strikes continued late Thursday night when a series of massive blasts rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs. It was not clear what was targeted or if there were casualties.

The Israeli military also said Thursday that it had killed a senior Hezbollah militant, Mohammed Anisi, who was involved in the group’s development of precision guided missiles. Anisi was killed in an airstrike targeting the group’s intelligence branch in Beirut, the army said.

So far, ground clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have been confined to a narrow strip along the border.

But hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from dozens of villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 36 miles from the border and considerably farther north than the Litani River.

Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the militants were to withdraw north of the Litani, and Lebanon’s armed forces were to patrol the border region along with U.N. peacekeepers.

In Gaza

The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.

There was no comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding in Gaza.