The latest indication shows that the conflict there is escalating despite diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration and others to calm the region, The New York Times reported.

Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, said that the five soldiers, all of them army reservists, were killed overnight when a rocket struck the building they were in.

Twenty-four other soldiers were wounded in the attack, the broadcaster reported.

Also read: Gaza children dying as Israel curtails medical evacuations: UN agencies

It was among the most casualties for the Israeli military in a single attack since it launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon this month.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, claimed to have carried out two rocket attacks on Israeli soldiers operating near the southern Lebanese town of Markaba, which has been the scene of intense clashes. It was not immediately clear if that was where the soldiers had been killed.

Hezbollah has continued to use territory it controls in Lebanon to launch strikes into Israeli territory. Since Israel last week killed the leader of Hamas, its ally, Hezbollah has carried out increasingly bold strikes, including a drone attack that damaged a property belonging to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

The Israeli military said that its air force had struck over 200 targets in Lebanon over the past day and had killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit. The Israeli military also said it had continued to locate and destroy underground compounds used by Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border.

Israel’s military campaign has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. About 1.4 million people — more than a fifth of the population — have been displaced amid the fighting, according to U.N. agencies.

According to Reuters, Hezbollah’s operations room said on Wednesday its fighters had killed more than 70 Israeli troops in its clashes with Israeli forces, updating from a statement last week saying 55 were killed.

It did not say in what time frame they were killed. Israel has said it has lost around 20 soldiers inside Lebanon since its ground operations began, and around 30 more in Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel.