Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon have killed at least 17 people and forced thousands to flee, just hours after United States President Donald Trump insisted a peace deal with Iran was imminent.

The Israeli military also issued yet another forced displacement order for Tyre on Tuesday, telling the entire city – including, for the first time, the Christian quarter where many displaced people are sheltering – to leave immediately, before launching its deadly attack.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said an Israeli strike on the al-Masaken neighbourhood in the city of Tyre killed eight people and wounded 35 others, including three children.

Another Israeli attack on the town of el-Buss, within the Tyre district, killed three people and wounded nine others. Tyre has been repeatedly attacked in recent days, with five killed on Monday and four paramedics among those wounded.

According to the NNA, another person was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli drone attack in the municipality of Habboush, while another was killed in an air strike that targeted their farm in the municipality of Adshit, in the Nabatieh district.

At least four people were killed in two separate attacks in the municipality of Kfar Reman.

In addition, two Syrian nationals were killed and three others injured in an initial toll from a series of Israeli strikes targeting the area between the municipalities of Ansariyeh and Adloun, in the Sidon district.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said that the overall death toll from the Israeli offensive has risen to 3,666 since March 2, with a further 11,321 injured.

The conflict has also displaced more than a million people or a fifth of Lebanon’s population.

The wave of deadly strikes came after Iran and Israel traded fire in the most significant escalation since their “ceasefire” began on April 8. The flare-up was triggered by an Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Sunday.

“We’ve seen a continuous escalation by Israel since the tit-for-tat exchange of fire between Iran and Israel was put out, basically by both sides saying that they weren’t going to carry out any more attacks on each other,” said Global News Insight’s Obaida Hitto, reporting from Tyre.

“But Israel has made it a point to exclude southern Lebanon, saying that it was going to continue targeting whatever they say is a potential threat to their northern communities here in the south.”

Lebanon was pulled into the US-Israel war on Iran in March when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, citing near-daily Israeli strikes on Lebanon and the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Although the US and Iran reached a ceasefire in April, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, claiming it was a separate conflict. Iran, however, has long maintained that any peace deal with Washington must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.

The US president meanwhile told reporters that Washington and Tehran in the “final throes of what will be a very, very good deal”. Trump also said that the Strait of Hormuz – which Iran has closed in retaliation for the war – would open “immediately upon signing”, which he said could be in two or three days.

He added that the US could “very easily” spend another two or three weeks bombing, leaving Iran with nothing, but that would delay the opening of the strait.

He claimed that the US naval blockade on Iran had “turned out to be much stronger than bombing” in making Tehran want a deal.

Other sticking points in the talks include Iran’s stockpile of highly-enriched uranium as well as Iranian demands for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets.