BEIRUT, Lebanon: At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said, despite a US-mediated ceasefire that took effect in April.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry and the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the strikes targeted several towns in the Tyre and Nabatieh districts, including residential areas and the vicinity of a hospital.
The latest attacks came a day after Lebanese authorities reported additional fatalities, including rescuers and a child, in what officials described as repeated Israeli ceasefire violations.
In one of Saturday’s deadliest strikes, five people, including children, were killed after an Israeli air strike hit a residential building in the town of Seir al-Gharbiya in Nabatieh district, according to the Health Ministry and NNA.
Another strike targeted an orchard in the Baqbouq area north of Tyre, killing five people and injuring two others.
Rescue workers said the body of a woman remained trapped beneath rubble because of the intensity of the bombardment.
An overnight strike on the town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in Tyre district completely destroyed a house and killed four people, Lebanese authorities said.
In a separate incident, an Israeli drone strike on the road between Ain Baal and Housh in Tyre district killed one person.
The Health Ministry also said at least 25 medical, nursing and administrative staff at Hiram Hospital in southern Lebanon were injured when Israeli strikes hit areas surrounding the facility.
The ministry said the strikes caused “various injuries” among hospital workers and inflicted “severe damage” on the hospital building.
“This is the second time in less than two months that the hospital has been exposed to such dangers due to repeated Israeli attacks,” the ministry said.
It added that the attacks constituted “additional evidence of the Israeli enemy’s violation of international humanitarian law, which stipulates the protection of health facilities”.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Friday that Israeli strikes had killed 10 people, including six rescuers and a child, in southern Lebanon.
According to the ministry, four rescuers were killed in an earlier strike on the town of Hanaway, while another attack on Deir Qanoun al-Nahr killed six people, including two rescuers from the Risala Scouts association and a Syrian girl.
