Hezbollah vowed to retaliate against Israel after accusing it of detonating the pagers across Lebanon.

The blasts occurred on Tuesday in Hezbollah strongholds, including southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs, and the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.

Lebanon's Information Minister condemned the explosions, labeling them as “Israeli aggression.”

Hezbollah also blamed Israel directly and promised swift retaliation, vowing that Israel would face “fair punishment”.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Israeli officials so far have not commented on the pager explosions.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad confirmed the grim toll, adding that 200 of the injured were in critical condition. Some of the dead included Hezbollah fighters, with one being the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament.

The attack is a major escalation in the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers as a low-tech means of communication in the belief they could evade Israeli location tracking, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters earlier this year.

The U.S. State Department said it was too early to say how the pager attacks in Lebanon might impact efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

It urged Iran -- which with its allies Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq has formed an "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and U.S. influence -- not to take advantage of any incident to raise instability.