Hezbollah launched missiles at a military base in Israel on Friday in response to Israeli attacks that killed a top commander, while Lebanese authorities reported five people including a rescuer killed in fresh Israeli strikes.

In a statement, the group said the missiles targeted a base south of the Israeli city of Nahariya “in response to the Israeli enemy’s violation of the ceasefire, the targeting of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the attacks that affected villages and civilians in southern Lebanon”.

Air raid sirens had sounded earlier in several cities in northern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

The military said it “intercepted one launch, and the additional launches fell in open areas”, adding that no injuries were reported.

The Lebanese health ministry meanwhile said in a statement that “the Israeli enemy’s raid on the town of Toura” in the southern Tyre district killed four people, including two women, and wounded eight others in a preliminary toll.

Lebanon’s civil defence said earlier that one of its members was killed in an Israeli attack on the south.

Despite a truce in the war between Israel and Hezbollah in place since April 17, fighting has not stopped in south Lebanon.

The terms of the ceasefire announced by the US state department on April 16 allow Israel to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks” by Hezbollah.

The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for seven southern Lebanese towns, including Toura.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a series of strikes across the south on Friday.

Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for several attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Upcoming talks

Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, the first attack on the Hezbollah stronghold in a month.

The Israeli military said it targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

Hezbollah has not yet announced a commander’s death, but a source close to the group confirmed to AFP the killing of Malek Ballout

The latest attacks came as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, were set to hold direct negotiations in Washington next week.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with delegation chief Simon Karam on Friday ahead of his departure to the US, giving him “directives outlining Lebanon’s firm positions regarding the negotiations”.

Lebanon and Israel’s US ambassadors had previously met twice in Washington over the past weeks, in an attempt to end the war that started when Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2.

Hezbollah is strongly opposed to the direct talks, calling them a “sin” and urging Beirut to withdraw from them.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,750 people in Lebanon since March 2, including dozens since the ceasefire was announced.

EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib told reporters in Beirut that since the start of the war on March 2, the 27-member bloc has provided 100 million euros in aid and sent six planes carrying humanitarian aid, with a seventh expected on Saturday.