At least 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured in the second wave of explosions of wireless communication devices in Lebanon, the country's Ministry of Health reports, UNN citing the BBC.
Details
Radios used by the Hezbollah group exploded in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, areas considered to be its strongholds.
Some of the explosions occurred during the funerals of some of the 12 people the ministry said were killed when Hezbollah members' pagers exploded on Tuesday. "Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack. Israel has not commented.
The attacks took place when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced a "new phase of the war" and when an Israeli army division was redeployed to the north.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a "serious risk of a sharp escalation" and called on all parties to "exercise maximum restraint.
"Obviously, the logic behind the explosion of all these devices is to do it as a preemptive strike before a major military operation," he told reporters.
Hours after Wednesday's explosions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to "safely return to their homes" tens of thousands of displaced people from the north of the country.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, said that Israel is "opening a new phase of war" and that "the center of gravity is shifting northward by diverting resources and forces.
On Wednesday, the Hezbollah press service announced the deaths of 13 of its fighters, including a 16-year-old boy, after a second wave of explosions.
It was also claimed that the group had targeted Israeli forces near the border and in the Golan Heights during the day, firing rockets at Israeli artillery positions.
The Israeli military said that about 30 shells were fired from Lebanon on Wednesday, causing a fire but no casualties.
They reported that Israeli planes had struck Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
The Health Ministry said the deadly explosions were aimed at walkie-talkies. A source close to Hezbollah also told the AFP news agency that radios used by its members had exploded.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that one person was killed when a radio exploded in a shop selling cellular devices in Chaat, in the northern Bekaa Valley. It identified the device as an ICOM-V82 portable VHF radio, which is now out of production.
The Reuters news agency quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that Hezbollah bought the radios five months ago, around the same time as the pagers.
The Axios news site cited two sources as saying that Israeli intelligence services had mined thousands of radios before delivering them to Hezbollah as part of an emergency communications system during the war.
American and Lebanese sources told the New York Times and Reuters that Israel planted small amounts of explosives in the pagers that exploded on Tuesday.
An ophthalmologist at one hospital in Beirut told the BBC that at least 60% of the people he saw had lost at least one eye, and most had also lost an arm.