"The IDF carried out a surprise strike on hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists at command centres across Lebanon. This is the largest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers," Katz said in a video statement, referring to a major 2024 operation against Hezbollah involving pager bombs.

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction threatened by US President Donald Trump.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the truce excludes his country's fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"We insisted on differentiating between the arenas of Iran and Lebanon in order to change the reality in Lebanon and remove threats from the residents of the north," Katz said.

"We warned Naim Qassem that Hezbollah would pay a very heavy price for attacking Israel on Iran's behalf -- and today we have carried out another stage of that promise," he added, referring to the Iran-backed armed group's leader.

Lebanon's health ministry said in a preliminary toll that the series of Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds.