Tel Aviv [Israel], November 20 (ANI): The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have said they conducted preemptive artillery shelling in southern Lebanon this morning amid repeated attacks by Hezbollah, The Times of Israel reported.

A short while later, a number of rockets and mortars were fired from Lebanon at the northern communities of Arab al-Aramshe, Bar'am and Biranit base. The IDF said that no injuries were reported in the attack. However, a fire erupted near the army base.

Meanwhile, the IDF announced the death of a soldier killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, taking the death toll in the ground attack against Hamas to 66. The soldier has been identified as Staff Sgt Eytan Dishon (21) of the Givati Brigade's reconnaissance unit.

Earlier, IDF said that the fighter jets struck and killed three Hamas company commanders in overnight strikes in the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reported. The IDF said that the strikes were conducted after intelligence information on their whereabouts was provided by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate.

Separately, the IDF said troops of the Nahal Brigade identified a group of Hamas operatives heading into a building near them in the Gaza Strip. It further said that the building was being used as a weapons depot and was destroyed in the airstrike, The Times of Israel reported.

As many as 31 babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday that involved multiple international agencies rushing the newborns in ambulances through active fighting, CNN reported on Monday.

The 31 evacuated babies are now in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, which lies on the strip's border with Egypt, near the Rafah crossing that has been used to bring in limited aid and evacuate foreign nationals.

The report quoted the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PCRS) as saying that it worked with several other organizations to transport the babies to the Al-Helal Al-Emirati Maternity Hospital in southern Gaza.It also added, quoting an Egyptian government source, that the babies would be transported to Egypt on Monday.

It was hoped that the parents of the newborns would be able to travel to safety with their children, but the WHO said very few of the infants were accompanied by family members, CNN reported.

Gazan officials had "limited information" and were not able to find close family members, the WHO said. One father, Ali Sbeiti, was reunited with his young son Anas, who was born three days before the war began.

"Thank God. We now feel that our son is safe after not seeing him for more than two weeks. We didn't know whether he was dead or alive, especially when communications were disconnected with the doctors," Sbeiti said, CNN reported. (ANI)