Updated 4pm

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Saturday confirmed its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed, after Israel said it had "eliminated" him in an air strike.

"Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years," Hezbollah said in a statement. 

The statement confirmed he was killed with other group members "following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs" of Beirut.

In the Lebanese capital, AFP journalists heard a passerby screaming, "Oh my God", while women wept in the streets right after Hezbollah announced the news. 

Gunfire could also be heard in Beirut, a gesture to mourn the fallen leader, a charismatic religious figure who is idolised by supporters. 

Israeli jets pounded Beirut's south and its outskirts throughout the night into Saturday in the most intense attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold since the group and Israel last went to war in 2006. 

Nasrallah had rarely been seen in public since 2006. 

He was elected secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32, after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi. 

Hezbollah confirmed their leader’s death after Israeli military announced that Nasrallah was killed in the Beirut strike. 

“During Hassan Nasrallah's 32-year reign as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities," An Israeli military statement said. 

"He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organisation." 

Israel's army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, meanwhile vowed to "reach" anyone who threats Israeli citizens. 

"The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel -- we will know how to reach them," he said in a statement. 

The military also said it killed Hezbollah commanders Muhammad Ali Ismail and Ali Karake, among others. 

Israel has been pounding suburbs of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, for several days, with Nasrallah reportedly its chief target. Air strikes intensified on Friday night, with Israel saying it was targeting Hezbollah headquarters.  

Israel has over the past days shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 700 people and displaced many others.

Thousands flee to Syria

More than 50,000 people had fled to Syria amid the escalating Israeli air strikes on Lebanon, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said. He added that "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon".

A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319, including 118,000 just since Israel dramatically ramped up its air strikes on Monday.

The remainder had fled their homes since Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began low-intensity cross-border attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

"Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments," Grandi said.

Hamas on Saturday condemned the killing of the Hezbollah leader. 

"We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and targeting of residential buildings... and we consider it a cowardly terrorist act," the group said in a statement, offering "condolences, and solidarity with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon on the martyrdom of... Nasrallah". 

Iran's foreign ministry said Saturday the path of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will continue despite his killing. 

"The glorious path of the leader of the resistance, Hassan Nasrallah, will continue and his sacred goal will be realised in the liberation of Quds (Jerusalem), God willing," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a post on social media X, mourning Nasrallah's death. 

Russia also condemned the attack and urged Israel to immediately cease military action in Lebanon.

"We decisively condemn the latest political murder carried out by Israel," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the Israeli killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as a "crime". 

The Friday attack on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold that killed the Iran-backed group's leader was a "shameful attack" and "a crime that shows the Zionist entity has crossed all the red lines", Sudani said in a statement, calling Nasrallah "a martyr on the path of the righteous" 

Israeli citizens rejoice

As powers that are hostile to Israel condemned the attack, the country’s citizens rejoiced and welcomed the Hezbollah leader's death. 

"Absolutely fantastic news, it should have been done a long time ago," said David Shalev, a resident of Israel's commercial hub. 

Although he cast doubt on whether Nasrallah's killing would end the fighting in the north, he said it sent a clear message to Israel's foes in the region: "Don't screw with us." 

In the coastal city of Rishon LeZion in central Israel, Shuli Diaz on Saturday called Friday's strike on Nasrallah "an amazing move". 

She said she hoped the Hezbollah leader's death would bring peace after more than a year of war triggered by the October 7 attack. 

"I think that the elimination of Nasrallah will bring an end to the war," Diaz said. "I believe that this will bring some sort of political resolution. I at least hope so." 

Israeli military officials played up the significance of Nasrallah's death, even as they vowed to press on with military operations against Hezbollah intended to facilitate the return of Israelis displaced from the north. 

The military announced on X on Saturday it had given the operation to kill Nasrallah the codename "New Order". 

It was a message that resonated with Rami Steiner, another resident of Rishon LeZion. 

"We are celebrating the death of the number one terrorist in the world," he said.  

"This is an opportunity for a new era, a better world without terrorists." 

Israel committing genocide in Lebanon- Turkish president

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Israel was committing a "genocide" in Lebanon after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was confirmed among hundreds killed in Israeli strikes this week.

"Lebanon and the Lebanese people are the latest target of a policy of genocide, occupation and invasion carried out by Israel since October 7," Erdogan wrote on X, without directly referring to Nasrallah's death.

"No person with a conscience can accept, excuse or justify such a massacre," he added, calling for a stop to Israel's "mindless" attempts to extend conflict across the region.

Erdogan has regularly accused Israel of "genocide" throughout the devastating Gaza war that was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.