Two civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Kafra

Israeli strikes killed two elderly people in Lebanon's south on Wednesday evening, while Hamas earlier fired a volley of rockets towards northern Israel from Lebanon amid escalating cross-border clashes in recent days.

Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since war erupted between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group in October, while Palestinian groups in Lebanon have also occasionally claimed attacks.

"Enemy warplanes raided the towns of Siddiqin and Kafra... killing two people from the town of Kafra and injuring 14," Lebanon's state-run national news agency (NNA) said. A Hezbollah fighter was also killed in the strikes.

The civilians killed in the strike were identified as older civilians Hussein Hamdan and his wife Manar Abbadi, whom the local al-Jadeed TV said had returned home a few hours before the strike after they were displaced for months.

The escalating cross-border exchanges since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted, have stoked fears of all-out war on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

The exchanges have killed at least 286 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also at least 44 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

At least 24 fighters from Palestinian groups including 10 from Hamas are also among the dead.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.