Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon kills Hamas commander and his family | Israel attacks news from Lebanon

A Hamas leader, his wife and their two daughters were killed in an Israeli attack in northern Lebanon, the Palestinian armed group said, as Israeli airstrikes continue against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Commander Saeed Attallah Ali and his family were killed in the “Zionist bombardment of his home in Beddawi camp” near the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, Hamas said, the first time the area had been nearly hit since the start of the Gaza war was a year ago.

Ali was identified as the leader of Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

Israel has repeatedly attacked Hamas officials in Lebanon in recent weeks, killing several of the group's most senior leaders. Hamas said 18 of its senior commanders had been killed in recent weeks.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack near the port city of Tripoli.

Israel has sharply escalated its attacks on Lebanon after a nearly year-long exchange of fire with Hezbollah. The fighting was largely confined to the Israeli-Lebanese border area and took place parallel to Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas.

Explosions were also heard in Beirut's southern suburbs early Saturday. Residents of the Dahiyeh neighborhood were reportedly warned by Israel shortly before the attacks, but it was unclear how many of the civilians managed to escape.

On Friday, Israel said it had attacked Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the southern suburbs and was assessing the damage after a series of attacks on senior figures in the group.

Israel eliminated much of Hezbollah's senior military leadership, including its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike on September 27.

Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem reported from Beirut that an area near Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport was also hit.

“It was a busy night, just like the nights before with bombings,” Hashem said.

“At the moment there is no word from Hezbollah about the recent attack and the fate of the chairman of its Executive Council.”

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Hezbollah stronghold.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that its forces attacked Hezbollah militants overnight at a mosque next to Salah Ghandour Hospital in southern Lebanon that it claimed was a “command center” used by Hezbollah attacks are used.

Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil, run by the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, said nine of its medical and nursing staff were injured, most of them seriously, after it received an Israeli warning to evacuate.

Hezbollah said early Saturday that its fighters fought with Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and fired a rocket at an Israeli tank near the border.

Hezbollah also said it fired Fadi-1 rockets on Saturday at Israel's Ramat David air base near the northern city of Haifa, about 45 km (30 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The death toll in Lebanon exceeds 2,000

On Friday, Lebanon's Health Ministry said more than 2,000 people were killed by Israeli attacks in the country last year, most of them in the last two weeks.

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed.

Attacks on medical teams and facilities – including the Lebanese Red Cross, Lebanese public hospitals and Hezbollah rescue workers – have also increased.

The government said more than 1.2 million Lebanese were forced to leave their homes due to Israeli attacks.

The United Nations said most shelters for displaced people in Lebanon were full. Many had traveled north to Tripoli or neighboring Syria, but an attack on Friday closed the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric described the burden on the Lebanese civilian population as “completely unacceptable”.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on Saturday it would not leave its positions in the south despite alleged Israeli requests for “resettlement”.

“On September 30th the [Israeli military] informed UNIFIL of their intention to conduct limited ground operations in Lebanon. They also demanded that we move some of our positions,” the UN interim force in Lebanon said.

“Peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly.

“We regularly adjust our posture and activities and have contingency plans that we can activate if necessary,” it continued.

A South Korean military transport plane brought back 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.