Israel killed 18 people in an airstrike on a majority Christian village in northern Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross said, as Israeli forces expanded their attacks on the country.
Monday’s attack on Aitou, targeting a house, was the first time the district in the country’s northern mountains has been targeted since Israel launched its offensive against Hizbollah, the Shia militant group.
This was one of many airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday. Israel also said it killed Mohammad Kamel Naim, commander of the anti-tank missile unit of Hizbollah’s elite Radwan Force, in an attack in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon.
They arrived a day after a Hizbollah drone attack on a military base near Binyamina, northern Israel, left four Israeli soldiers dead and about 60 injured.
It was the Iran-backed group’s deadliest attack in Israel since the Israel Defense Forces stepped up its offensive against Hizbollah three weeks ago, killing the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and invading southern Lebanon. . According to the IDF, seven soldiers were seriously injured in an attack by Lebanese rebels on Sunday night.
EQUAL Israel UNRWA, the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, said an airstrike on a school in the northern Gaza town of Nuseirat killed 20 people. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Sunday’s attack prevented the agency from carrying out polio vaccinations in the area, although it has continued the program in central Gaza.
In another incident, an Israeli airstrike near a hospital complex in central Gaza killed at least four people and injured 40 others, health authorities in the devastated area reported on Thursday. Two.
The IDF confirmed it had attacked the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, saying the “old” hospital was now being used by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, as a “command and control center.” Israel launched an attack on hospitals across the strip, claiming Hamas was using them for military purposes. Israeli attacks have pushed Gaza’s health system to the point of collapse. Hamas denies the claims.
Dr. Iyad al-Jabry, medical director at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, said that at the time of the attack, the hospital was operating and caring for up to 700 patients. Jabry told the Financial Times that the attack hit temporary shelters for displaced Palestinians in the compound, causing a large fire and destroying at least 37 tents.
Video from the scene uploaded to Palestinian social media showed fire engulfing tents and people believed to have taken refuge in the hospital grounds.
According to Jabry, there were no armed militants in the hospital, which treated dozens of wounded Palestinians after the attack. “This is not the first attack on the hospital. We are used to that,” he said. “We are still working, we are not leaving.”
According to Palestinian health officials, more than a year of fighting in Gaza has left more than 41,000 Palestinians dead.
Hizbollah said the drone attack on the military base near Binyamina, 40km south of Haifa, was in response to Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon and to show off its capabilities. They said they targeted the IDF’s Golani brigade, launching dozens of projectiles alongside a squadron of attack drones to overwhelm Israel’s air defense system.
A drone evaded Israel’s air defense system and attacked a cafe at an army training base. Israeli media reported that many of the victims were Golani brigade students. Witnesses said no sirens were activated before the strike. The IDF said it is still investigating the incident.
The Pentagon said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and expressed condolences over the deaths of IDF soldiers.
Previously, the US said sends advanced anti-missile system to Israela move that will strengthen Israel’s defenses as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government plans a retaliatory strike against Iran. The ground-based terminal high-altitude area defense system is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Israel’s conflict with Hizbollah has intensified in recent weeks, but its air campaign has mainly focused on areas controlled by Hizbollah, unlike the Christian-majority village of Aitou in northern Lebanon.
A local official told the FT that the attack targeted a house rented by displaced families. Israel has not commented on the attack and it remains unclear who or what the target was.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,300 people in the past year and forced at least 1.2 million people to flee their homes, mostly in the past two weeks. They have also caused widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.
On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc’s member states had taken too long to condemn Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers. country in southern Lebanon.
“We should resist Israel attacks UnifilHe said, referring to the United Nations-authorized force deployed along the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon. “Our soldiers are there, many soldiers are there.”
Unifil accused Israel of “flagrant violations” of international law on Sunday, after Israeli tanks broke into a peacekeeping position in southern Lebanon, hours before Netanyahu ordered international forces to withdraw from the fighting area.
