No immediate plans for ground offensive in Lebanon - Israel

Israel is focused on aerial offensive and has no immediate plans for a ground incursion, an Israeli military official has said.

The official, speaking to Associated Press on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said the strikes are aimed at curbing Hezbollah’s ability to launch more strikes into Israel.

Israel's air force carried out dozens of air strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 50 people, as the Israeli military threatened residents to immediately evacuate places where it claimed the Hezbollah group stores weapons.

Separately, Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed eight Palestinians, including five children, on Monday morning, according to Palestinian medical officials.

Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns that were being struck. The Israeli military said it was attacking targets related to Hezbollah.

The wave of air strikes came after a tense day in which Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa.

Hezbollah’s rocket attack came after an Israeli air strike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen Hezbollah members, along with dozens of civilians including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000.

Lebanon blamed the attacks on Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny its responsibility.