BEIRUT, April 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 24 people were killed and several others wounded in Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to Lebanese official sources.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said in a statement early in the day that in an initial toll, nine people, including two children and five women, were killed and 23 were wounded in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported later that at least 15 people were killed and several others wounded in Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon in the afternoon, including a family of four killed when a home was struck in the village of Jibchit.

For its part, Hezbollah said it carried out retaliatory attacks, targeting two Israeli Merkava tanks in Bint Jbeil with attack drones and striking a gathering of Israeli soldiers with a swarm of drones.

Israel's military said on the same day that an explosive drone attack by Hezbollah killed a soldier in southern Lebanon.

Earlier on Thursday, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that a separate explosive drone attack by Hezbollah wounded 12 soldiers near the border.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said the cumulative toll from ongoing Israeli attacks since March 2 has reached 2,586 killed and 8,020 wounded.

The developments came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect at midnight between April 16 and 17, following weeks of intensified cross-border fighting linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.■