Beirut/IBNS: In the deadliest cross-border escalation since war erupted in Gaza on October 7, Israeli air strikes on Lebanon Monday left 356 people dead, including 24 children, the Lebanese health minister told the media.

The war began when Palestinian group Hamas launched the worst-ever attack on Israel, with Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups around the region drawn into the violence.

Israel claimed to have hit about 1,100 Hezbollah sites in southern and eastern Lebanon in the last 24 hours, including a "targeted strike" in Beirut.

According to media reports, the strike on Beirut targeted Ali Karake, the group's third in command after the execution of key commanders earlier.

Lebanese state media reported new raids in the country's east, while Hezbollah said it targeted five sites in Israel.

Israelis ran for cover when air raid sirens sounded in the coastal city of Haifa on Sunday.

World powers have urged Israel and Hezbollah to pull back from further escalation, as the focus of a full-on war has shifted sharply in recent days from Israel's southern front with Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon.

Last week, Israel announced it had killed Hezbollah's elite unit commander in a strike on southern Lebanon earlier.

The Israeli Army claimed to kill Ibrahim Aqil, also wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, who headed the Iran-backed militant group's elite Radwan unit.