At least 24 people have been killed in Israel as Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes targeting civilian areas. A U.S. Embassy branch in Tel Aviv suffered minor damage.

By Alexander Cornwell, Parisa Hafezi and Jeff Mason TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Iranian missiles struck Israel's Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn on Monday, destroying homes and fuelling concerns among world leaders at this week's G7 meeting that the battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict.

The Israel Defense Forces said alerts were activated in several areas of the country after the detection of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel. The Air Force was working to intercept them, the IDF said.

Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure.

Iranian missiles struck Israel’s Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa before dawn on Monday, destroying homes and fuelling concerns among world leaders at this week’s G7 meeting that

Israel has launched a series of strikes against Iran, targeting the country’s nuclear program and other military infrastructure. Iran has launched its own strikes in retaliation.

Iran and Israel continued on Sunday their aerial attacks, which began Friday with a series of Israeli strikes on Iran.

Israel unleashed airstrikes across Iran for a third day and threatened even greater force as some Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of the country.