Nine people, seven of them civilians, were killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, official sources said.
On the other hand, the Israeli army said it lost a soldier in cross-border rocket fire, reports AFP.
While the rocket attack was not immediately claimed, the exchanges of fire— and the worst single-day civilian death number in Lebanon since cross-border hostilities began in October— raised fears of a broader conflict between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
On Wednesday evening, four civilians from the same family "including two women" were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the city of Nabatiyeh, a Lebanese security source told AFP.
"The residents of the apartment targeted have no links to Hezbollah," added the source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Earlier, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli warplanes targeted a house in south Lebanon's Sawwaneh, killing three members of the same family, identifying them as a Syrian woman and her child, aged two, and stepchild, 13.
The agency said another Israeli attack targeting the village of Adshit killed one person, whom Hezbollah announced was one of its fighters, and wounded 10 others, destroying a building and causing significant damage nearby.
The Israeli army said in a statement that Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo, 20, was killed "as a result of a (rocket) launch carried out from Lebanese territory on a base in northern Israel".
Fighter jets struck a series of "Hezbollah terror targets" in several areas of south Lebanon including Adshit and Sawwaneh, the military said.
The Israeli military and the Iran-backed Lebanese group have been trading near daily cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Hezbollah said a second fighter was killed elsewhere in south Lebanon on Wednesday, but claimed no attacks on Israeli troops or positions.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
