The Iran-backed group meanwhile said it faced Israeli troops entering the southern town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, as the Israeli military said it was expanding its ground operations.In a statement, the health ministry said 31 people, including at least four children and three women, were killed in attacks and 40 wounded.Fourteen were killed in Burj al-Shamali near Tyre, five in Kawthariyat al-Riz, four in Habbush, six in Maarakeh and two in Salaa.An AFP correspondent in the southern city of Nabatieh reported airstrikes following an unprecedented warning on the city and saw plumes of smoke rising from various locations within it.Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said one of the strikes hit the vicinity of a public hospital, causing "significant damage to the hospital's departments".The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for at least 50 southern and eastern towns and villages on Tuesday, including Nabatieh city.An Israeli military official told AFP that troops had begun operating beyond the Israel-announced "Yellow Line" in south Lebanon, which runs around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanese territory.As Israel's operations moved deeper into south Lebanon, Hezbollah said its fighters confronted Israeli troops trying to advance into a town that overlooks Nabatieh city on Tuesday.Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters repelled an Israeli force early Tuesday that had moved toward Zawtar al-Sharqiyah after airstrikes and heavy artillery fire.The group claimed responsibility for a series of drone and rocket fires on Israeli forces in the town, and said it engaged directly with them.In eastern Lebanon, the health ministry said "yesterday's Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Mashghara in West Bekaa resulted in a preliminary toll of 11 martyrs, including two girls and a woman, and 15 wounded, including a child".Rescuers were still clearing the rubble in the eastern town, the ministry added.The Israeli military in a statement said it launched "several strikes... in the area of Mashghara" on "Hezbollah infrastructure sites where terrorists' activity was identified".Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) also reported several Israeli strikes across the south and east.A strike on Srifa in the south killed a rescuer and wounded two others from the Risala Scouts association, linked to the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, according to the health ministry, raising the rescuer death toll in the war to 121.Drone attacksSeveral strikes also hit near Lebanon's largest dam in the Litani river's Qaraoun lake in the east.