At least eight people have died and thousands are injured after handheld pagers, used by Hezbollah, exploded in Lebanon yesterday afternoon. The health ministry said 200 of those injured are in a critical condition.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the “sinful aggression”, and said the country will get its “fair punishment”. Israel is yet to comment – it said earlier that a new aim of the war in Gaza was to return evacuated residents to northern Israel following attacks from Hezbollah, reports the BBC.

The Iran-backed armed group, based in Lebanon, has been a foe of Israel for decades. Fighting between the two sides has escalated in recent months, raising fears of an all-out war CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion in a man’s trouser pocket as he stood at a shop till.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah since last October in parallel with the Gaza war.

But the events come hours after Israel’s security cabinet made the safe return of 60,000 residents displaced in the north by Hezbollah attacks an official war goal.

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