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At least eight people were killed and more than 2,700 injured, many of them Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, when the handheld pagers they use to communicate exploded, Lebanon's health minister said Tuesday.

Firass Abiad said the blasts took place in several suburbs of Beirut, according to Lebanon's National News Agency. Abiad said in a news conference that many of the victims had injuries to their faces, hands and stomachs.

He said one of those killed was an 8-year-old girl.

The direct cause of the explosions was not immediately clear, though Hezbollah quickly blamed Israel for what it called its "sinful aggression." It said it Israel would get "its fair punishment."

A Hezbollah official told the Reuters news agency that the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.

Mojtaba Amani, Iran's ambassador in Lebanon, was also injured in the incident, though not seriously, according to Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency. Hezbollah is materially and financially backed by Iran.

There was no immediate comment from Israel's Defense Forces.

The incident comes just hours after Israel's security cabinet released a statement vowing to return residents of Israel's northern areas to their homes. Hezbollah, long Israel's enemy, has repeatedly fired missiles at Israeli territory since Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, causing many residents to flee south.

A pager is a small electronic device that can be worn or fit in a pocket that beeps or vibrates when someone is trying to contact you. It displays the phone number or sometimes a short message. Pagers can usually only receive information, not transmit it, making their location hard to track.

Israel has for months warned that it could launch a military operation to drive Hezbollah away from its border.