Live Updates: Hezbollah says at least 20 Israeli soldiers killed or wounded in south Lebanon as strikes intensify

At least nine people, including seven paramedics, were killed in an Israeli airstrike early Thursday in the densely populated Bashoura neighborhood in central Beirut.

The Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Organization said seven of its members were killed in the strike, a first in the area since the hostilities began last October. The Israeli army said it conducted a precise airstrike in Beirut, without adding more details.

The Beirut strike comes a day after Israel-Hezbollah ground clashes killed at least nine Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military invaded southern Lebanon late on Monday, in the first such Israeli operation in the country in 18 years.

Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state Tuesday night on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

For his part, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that “the slightest mistake” Israel commits again will be met by “an even more crushing and stronger response.” His remarks came during a meeting with representatives of the Palestinian Hamas group in Doha.