The Israeli army has stormed the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut and struck southern Lebanon, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed the army was “destroying” the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Sunday that Israeli strikes on Dahiyeh – a southern suburb of Beirut – hit a residential building in the Haret Hreik neighborhood near a mosque and a hospital.

The Israeli military said it hit the “command center of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters” and an underground weapons facility in Beirut and killed three Hezbollah fighters in other attacks.

A video of the bombing posted on social media showed a multi-storey building hit.

Israel also warned on Sunday that it planned to attack what it called Hezbollah’s financing arm, al-Qard al-Hassan, with airstrikes as part of its war with the group, which has escalated significantly since September and led to killing the leader of the Iran-backed group, Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli military told people living near locations of al-Qard al-Hassan – a bank with branches across the country – in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate.

That came after Gallant told troops on Sunday that the army was stepping up its attacks on Hezbollah.

He said that not only were they “defeating the enemy (Hezbollah), but we are destroying them in all the villages along the border, in the places that Hezbollah planned to use as a launching pad for attacks on Israel.”

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon, said people living in the targeted building had no place to go.

“They were given very short notice by the Israeli army to evacuate, and then came the multiple airstrikes,” he said.

Attacks in southern Lebanon

The attacks on South Beirut came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of trying to kill him by attacking his residence in Caesarea, Israel.

Later on Sunday, the Lebanese army, which is not participating in the war, said three of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli attack on their vehicle in southern Lebanon.

Local security sources told German news agency DPA that the Israeli army nearly destroyed several villages in southern Lebanon and razed houses and mosques.

According to the report, the army blew up the town of Ramyah in Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon.

A separate NNA report said Israel carried out large-scale bombings of buildings in the southern Lebanese towns of Odaisseh, Markaba and Rab el-Thalathine.

The NNA reported fourteen Israeli attacks in a fifteen-minute period on one border village, Khiam, illustrating the intensity of the fighting.

Israeli strikes targeted dozens of locations in southern Lebanon, including the town of Nabatieh for the third time this week, the report said.

An Israeli attack hit a center for rescue workers affiliated with Hezbollah in Deir el-Zahrani in southern Lebanon, partially destroying it, NNA reported.

The Israeli army said it “struck and eliminated more than 65 Hezbollah terrorists… and struck dozens of Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.

While Israel claims its stated goal is to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon, it has issued a wave of forced evacuation orders for hundreds of villages in the south, causing mass displacement.

It has also bombed cities in the north of the country, as well as locations far from Hezbollah-controlled areas.

Attacks on Northern Israel

Hezbollah reported new attacks on northern Israel on Sunday, with sirens sounding in at least seven towns and villages near the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rockets.

According to the Israeli military, about 70 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon. Some were intercepted by the missile defense system, while others hit open areas and caused fires.

Hours after Israel said it would step up its attacks on the group, Hezbollah said it had fired several rocket attacks into Israel, targeting three Israeli military bases near Haifa, Safed and Tiberias.

It also said it had fired rockets at Israeli forces near two border villages, Markaba and Odaisseh. The NNA claimed that Israeli forces had used explosives to blow up buildings there and in a third village, Rab el-Thalathine.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom reported that one of the main concerns for Israeli authorities in recent hours has been security in northern Israel, with reports of shrapnel falling in the area.

“In recent weeks, especially in northern Israel, there have been major rocket attacks from Lebanon against areas such as Safed and the major city of Haifa,” he said.

A strategic city, Haifa is home to Israel’s main naval base. It houses oil refineries and other military infrastructure and has a population of approximately 300,000.

“This is a big concern: the fact that rockets keep being launched towards the north, and some are making an impact there,” Jamjoom said.