Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon kill 19, including children and women, officials say

BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed at least 19 people, including four women and three children, Lebanon's Health Ministry said, the latest in near-daily attacks from both sides that have not stopped despite the fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the casualties or specific incidents, but said that between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon, it had targeted more than 25 sites of Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

The Israel-Hezbollah latest fighting began on March 2 with the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group firing rockets at Israel, two days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran.


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In Beirut, the government said a single strike on the village of Deir Qanoun al Nahr in the coastal Tyre province killed 10 people, including three children and three women. Three were wounded, including a child.

The ministry provided no further details about the strike but state-run National News Agency said it destroyed a house, leaving several people under the rubble. Their bodies were pulled out later in the day.

According to the ministry, another airstrike - this one on the southern city of Nabatieh - killed four people and wounded 10 others, including two women. A third strike in the nearby village of Kfar Sir killed five people, including one woman.

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The latest deaths came a day after the death toll in the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah surpassed 3,000, and two days after the U.S.-brokered truce that has been in place since April 17, was extended for 45 days.

Israel has since invaded southern Lebanon and bombarded its capital, Beirut, and other areas, saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Hezbollah, both a militant group and a powerful political organization in Lebanon, has resisted pressure to disarm, including by the Lebanese government.

More than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the fighting, with some sheltering in tents along roads and the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut.

Israel, meanwhile, has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks targeting its troops on Lebanese soil and northern Israeli border towns.

Israel's military said one of its soldiers was killed on Tuesday in battle in southern Lebanon, raising the Israeli troops' death toll to 21 since the latest conflict started.