BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct 21, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israel conducted air strikes hitting a Lebanese association linked to Hezbollah, accusing it on Monday of financing the group's weapons, as it expanded the scope of its raids beyond military targets.

In southern Lebanon, Israeli strikes hit Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the cities of Nabatiyeh and Tyre overnight, according to the official National News Agency.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it had conducted a series of strikes against "dozens of facilities and sites" used by Hezbollah in Beirut and southern Lebanon, including on branches of the financial institution.

The strikes mark an expansion of Israel's nearly month-long war with Hezbollah, as it seeks to degrade the group's ability to fund operations.

Israel accuses Al-Qard Al-Hassan of funding "Hezbollah's terror activities", including the purchase of weapons and payments to militants.

Hezbollah built its loyal support base in Shiite Muslim areas of Lebanon by providing protection, health, education and financial services in a state long wracked by sectarianism and corruption.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a Hezbollah-linked financial firm offering micro-credit in a country where the traditional banking system collapsed five years ago at the start of a crushing economic crisis.

It is sanctioned by the United States, which accuses Hezbollah of using it as a cover to mask the group's financial activities and gain access to the international financial system.

On Sunday, 11 strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, NNA reported, many of them targeting Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

At the site of a flattened building housing a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in south Beirut, AFP photographers saw a pile of concrete and mangled metal.

Just a month ago, south Beirut's bustling streets were packed with traffic, families strolling about and youths in cafes. Now silence dominates the abandoned Hezbollah bastion.

Other strikes hit Al-Qard al-Hassan branches in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and in the country's south.

The NNA also reported a strike near Beirut's airport, the main entry-point of humanitarian assistance to the country and a major evacuation hub for those fleeing the conflict.

According to the Israeli military, dozens of projectiles were launched across the border Monday morning.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops Sunday that the military was stepping up strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, destroying places the group "planned to use as launchpads for attacks against Israel".

- UNIFIL on frontline -

Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon late last month, while it fought a devastating war in Gaza that was sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack launched by Hezbollah ally Hamas.

The deadliest attack in Israeli history resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In support of its Palestinian ally, Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israel in October last year, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Israel launched a massive air campaign that has primarily focused on Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon, and sent ground troops across the border on October 30.

It has vowed to keep fighting in Lebanon until Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire can return to their homes.

The war has killed 1,470 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the actual toll is likely higher.

The conflict has put the United Nations peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, on the frontline, with the Blue Helmets accusing Israel of attacking their members multiple times in recent weeks.

UNIFIL said the Israeli army had on Sunday "deliberately" damaged one of its positions, the latest incident reported by the force.

Last week, European Union nations with troops deployed in Lebanon agreed to "exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel" to prevent further incidents.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said Israel has "no intention" of harming the peacekeepers.

- 'No food' in Gaza -

In northern Gaza, the civil defence agency on Sunday said an Israeli air strike on a residential area killed 73 Palestinians late Saturday in Beit Lahia.

Israel, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in the north of the Palestinian territory, launched a major air and ground assault on October 6 this year, tightening its siege there.

"We are now trapped with no food, water or medicine, facing starvation amid the rubble and destruction," said Ahmad Saleh, 36, from northern Gaza's Al-Tawbah area.

The UN has warned of the impact of the strikes in the area, which have forced tens of thousands of people to flee, many of them already displaced earlier in the conflict.

Last week, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 400,000 people were trapped in north Gaza.

The Israeli military said it struck a "Hamas terror target" in Beit Lahia, adding that the toll figures given by Gaza authorities "do not align" with the information it possessed.

The Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation "condemned the strike in the strongest terms", describing Israel's actions in Gaza a "stain on the conscience of humanity".

Posting on X, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi again accused the international community of granting "impunity" to Israel's government which "is brutally terrorising the whole population to push them out of their homeland".

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed 42,603 people, a majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers reliable.