Hezbollah rockets struck a suburb in the Israeli city of Haifa, destroying cars and homes in the latest escalation of cross-border attacks.

The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas,” after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.

Video footage shows explosions on leafy roads close to homes, while hospitals in northern Israel have been instructed to shift to war footing.

The attack comes as Israel fighter jets hit Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon with one of the most intense bombing raids since the war began.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday night it launched two waves of attacks – one attacking about 290 targets, and a second targeting 110 sites – across southern Lebanon.

It follows an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday that killed at least 45 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and a sophisticated pager attack just days earlier.

Over 150 rockets, cruise missiles and UAVs were launched towards Israel overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, some of which got through the Iron Dome defence system and landed on streets.

Northern Haifa’s Kiryat Bialik was most badly hit in a rare attack that saw residents told to stay near shelters. The targeting of civilians could be seen as a significant escalation.

Alana Cohen, a resident, said: “In Haifa we are not used to this, I have barely slept with all the booms and sirens through the night.”

Schools were closed in several areas of northern Israel and gatherings restricted while hospitals were ordered to move operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire.

Hezbollah claimed it had targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with successive barrages of missiles in part as revenge for the exploding pagers and walki-talkies thought to be carried out by Israeli secret intelligence.

Some of the missiles overnight came from Iran-backed groups in Iraq.

Israel’s wave of bombings overnight mark one of the largest sorties over southern Lebanon in months, and suggest Israel is increasing pressure on Hezbollah to leave the region.

Speaking Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “If Hezbollah did not understand the message, I promise you - it will understand the message.

“We will not suffer this...no state will suffer this and we will do whatever necessary to return security,” reiterating the need to return the residents of the north of Israel to their homes.

Israeli intelligence analyst, Ronen Solomon, said Hezbollah rockets hitting civilian areas could change the dynamic of the conflict once more.

Usually, Haifa is a “red line”, he said.

The death toll in the pager and walkie-talkie attacks has risen to 39 with more than 3,000 injured. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in what has been the biggest security breach to Hezbollah in the group’s history.