JERUSALEM, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- A total of five Israeli soldiers were killed and seven others injured in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported in separate statements on Thursday.

The IDF said an incident with Hezbollah took place Wednesday when Israeli troops from the 2nd "Carmeli" Brigade were carrying out an operation in a rural area of southern Lebanon, leaving four soldiers killed and three others seriously wounded.

According to Israel's state-owned Kan TV News, Hezbollah fighters emerged from a shaft in a thicket and threw hand grenades from close range at the Israeli troops, inflicting casualties.

The IDF added that another soldier was killed and four more injured on Thursday in additional clashes with Hezbollah.

Moreover, two civilians were injured Thursday on a road in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel following a barrage of 50 projectiles fired from Lebanon, it said in another statement.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese official National News Agency reported earlier in the day that at least 18 people were killed and several others injured in Israeli airstrikes on different areas of Lebanon.

Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has been launching intensive airstrikes on Lebanon in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah.

It also launched a ground operation near the southern Lebanese border in early October. On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed in a statement that it had killed more than 70 Israeli soldiers and wounded over 600 others since the beginning of the Israeli ground operation.

Lebanese authorities reported Thursday that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict on Oct. 8, 2023, has reached 2,593, with injuries up to 12,119. Enditem

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