As Israel readied itself to launch a fresh round of airstrikes on Beirut, Hezbollah fired about 200 rockets into Israel on Sunday.

Hezbollah militants launched the rockets, which included three drones, at northern and central Israel, according to a statement from the Israeli military. Only a portion of the rockets were intercepted by the nation's aerial defense systems, it added. The military struck a launcher that fired projectiles toward the Haifa Bay area.


By the afternoon, at least eight people had been hurt. First responders with the Magen David Adom rescue service reported treating a man who had suffered severe injuries in Kfar Blum, near the Israel-Lebanon border.
According to the Fire and National Rescue Authority, a rocket struck a five-story residential building in Haifa, the biggest city on Israel's northern coast, prompting its evacuation due to collapse concerns. There were also reports of additional damage in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikvah and the northern cities of Kiryat Shmona and Ma'alot.
In response to Israel's recent airstrikes on Beirut, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks on a military target in Tel Aviv, according to the Xinhua news agency.


"With a salvo of high-quality missiles and a squadron of attack drones," the attacks were launched at 06:30 am local time (0430 GMT), and "the operation achieved its goals," Hezbollah said in a statement, without naming the target or the specifics of the attack.

The group said in other separate statements that it also launched for the first time "an air attack with a squadron of suicide drones on the Ashdod naval base, 150 km from the Lebanese-Palestinian border."

The group also claimed launching drone attacks on a newly-established operations room for the Israeli army in the settlement of Metula in northern Israel, and missile attacks on other northern cities including Hatzor Haglilit, Ma'alot, and Kfar Blum.