Israel's military struck outside the gates of a hospital in southern Lebanon without warning on Friday, killing seven paramedics and forcing the facility to close, the hospital director told The Associated Press a day after one of the most deadly attacks on health workers in the weeks since fighting escalated between Israel and Hezbollah.

The account of the Friday airstrikes that flung hospital doors off their hinges and shattered glass was the latest to detail attacks that Lebanon's health ministry says have killed dozens of health workers.

Israel launched a new air and ground offensive in northern Gaza Sunday, hours after pounding Beirut's southern suburbs in the heaviest bombardment since it stepped up its pursuit of Hezbollah last month.

The intensified campaign on two fronts, including an overnight strike on a Gaza mosque that killed 19, came as Israel remained on high alert ahead of memorial events to mark the surprise attack a year ago that triggered the ongoing war.

In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs.

Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is a monumental and hugely demoralizing blow to the group he led for 32 years, marking a significant inflection point for Lebanon and the region.

Hezbollah's announcement of his death Friday triggered tears and celebrations across the Arab world, pointing to the widespread reach and influence of a divisive man who has been at the forefront of Middle Eastern politics for decades.

Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to his slain cousin Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, is one of Hezbollah's most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to group's patron Iran.

Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but is several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.

Middle East nations and Hezbollah's allies in the Tehran-aligned "Axis of Resistance" reacted on Saturday to the killing of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah after the Lebanon-based group confirmed their leader's death in Israeli strikes.

Military officials in Israel announced on Saturday morning that Nasrallah, who headed Hezbollah for more than three decades, died in bombardment targeting the group's headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut Friday night.