The Hamas group said one of its leaders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre.

BEIRUT, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Hezbollah’s Deputy Leader Naim Qassem, in his first public appearance since the assassination of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel last week, stated that the movement is prepared to confront any Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon.

“Israel will not achieve its objectives,” he declared. “We are considering all possibilities and will be ready if the Israelis decide to enter on foot. The resistance forces are prepared for a ground battle,” Qassem added.

The statement comes as Israeli forces have carried out multiple strikes on Hezbollah targets during a two-week offensive in Lebanon, killing several commanders. The possibility of an Israeli ground troop and tank incursion across the border has many worried.

In a related development, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said that one of its leaders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday. Another Palestinian organization announced that three of its leaders were killed in a strike in central Beirut — the first such attack inside the capital.

Hamas reported that its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sharif Abu al-Amin, was killed alongside his wife, son, and daughter after an airstrike hit their home in a refugee camp in Tyre early Monday morning.

Another faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), confirmed that three of its leaders were killed when a missile struck the Kola district in Beirut.

These killings are the latest in a series of intensified Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon as part of a conflict that spans from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Yemen and Israel itself.

“This was the first instance of an Israeli strike outside the southern suburbs of Beirut in this campaign, culminating in the killing of veteran Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week through a series of powerful airstrikes,” eyewitnesses told Reuters.

Israel has not issued an immediate comment on the attack in Beirut. The strikes indicate that Israel is not slowing its multi-front offensive, even after eliminating Nasrallah, the most powerful ally of Iran in its "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and American influence in the region.

The intensification of Israel’s operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi forces in Yemen has raised fears that the Middle East conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani warned that Tehran would not leave any of Israel’s “criminal acts” unanswered, referring to the killing of Nasrallah and Iran’s IRGC deputy commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes on Friday.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that more than 1,000 Lebanese have died, and 6,000 have been injured over the past two weeks, without specifying how many of the casualties were civilians. The government said that one million people — a fifth of the population — have fled their homes.

The escalation of the conflict has stoked fears in Beirut that Israel could expand its military campaign.

“There’s nothing left to say or add except, God save Lebanon,” said Beirut resident Nawal. “What happens to me could happen to anyone.”