At least 47 people have been killed in Lebanon following a series of Israeli air strikes, the country’s health ministry has said – while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers were also killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck 80 targets linked to the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah and killed “dozens” of its members.
The strikes come a day after the US and Iran signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East, including a permanent cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.
Both Israel and Hezbollah have carried out strikes against each other since the deal was announced, but on Friday afternoon a US official confirmed an immediate ceasefire between the two had been agreed.
Prior to the news of the ceasefire, Israel had said it had no intention of withdrawing its forces from Lebanon and had insisted that its conflict with Hezbollah was separate from the war on Iran.
But the IDF also confirmed that a ceasefire was in effect on Friday afternoon.
Prior to that, Lebanon’s health ministry said that as well as the 47 people killed in the country, 97 people had also been wounded by Israeli air strikes.
In the Nabatieh district, in south Lebanon, nine people were killed in Harouf, seven in Haboush, and six in al-Duweir, including a child, the health ministry said.
Lebanon’s state news agency had earlier described the overnight bombardment across the Nabatieh district on Thursday as one of the most intense of the war.
Hezbollah said it had ambushed an Israeli group in southern Lebanon, destroying three tanks with guided missiles, and targeting troops with rocket and artillery fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the four Israeli soldiers killed, writing on X on Friday that he had instructed the IDF to “strike Hezbollah with full force”.
“My directive is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks,” he said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier said that the “expansion of Israeli attacks constitute a dangerous escalation”, adding that it would “not deter efforts to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible”.
Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran shortly after it began, with Hezbollah launching rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and occupying around 5% of the country’s territory in the south, with the aim of driving back Hezbollah fighters from its northern border.
More than 3,900 people have been killed, among them women and children, and more than 11,600 others wounded since the latest conflict began, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Around a million people remain displaced, while dozens of communities in the south have been completely destroyed.
Hezbollah had vowed to continue with its attacks as long as the invasion persists.