Lebanon’s health ministry said 14 people were killed in an Israeli attack in the country’s south on Sunday, the deadliest day since a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hezbollah took effect more than a week ago.
Israel and Iran-backed groups have accused each other of violating the fragile truce, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the military was targeting Hezbollah “vigorously” and the group vowing to continue responding to “violations”.
Israeli forces have launched repeated attacks in Lebanon since a ceasefire on April 17 was extended for another three weeks on Thursday, following six weeks of war between Israel and its incursions into the country’s south.
Israeli forces are operating within Israel’s declared “yellow line”, which demarcates a roughly 10-kilometer strip of Lebanese territory along the border and residents have been warned not to return.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Sunday’s dead included two women and two children, adding that 37 people were also injured.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 36 people since the truce began, according to an AFP tally of health ministry data.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that one soldier was killed “during fighting” in southern Lebanon and six others were wounded, four of them seriously.
-“Freedom of Movement”-
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israel carried out strikes on Sunday at multiple locations in the south, including areas where Israel had issued evacuation warnings and elsewhere.
AFP journalists reported heavy traffic heading north as people fled following warnings and intensified attacks.
“Hezbollah’s violations are actually undermining the ceasefire,” Netanyahu told a weekly cabinet meeting.
On March 2, Hezbollah, supported by Tehran, fired rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack and drag Lebanon into the Middle East war.
“We are acting proactively in accordance with the arrangements we have reached with the United States and with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli and Lebanese officials held a landmark meeting that angered Hezbollah. Under the truce, Israel reserves the right to respond to “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.”
“This means freedom of movement, not only to respond to attacks… but also to preemptively deal with immediate threats and even emerging threats,” Netanyahu said.
Hezbollah said Israel’s “continued violations of the ceasefire… in particular its continued occupation of Lebanese territory and violations of Lebanese sovereignty will be met with a response”.
Its militants targeted Israeli troops and positions in southern Lebanon in response to ceasefire violations and attacks on Lebanese villages, the statement said.
– More than 2,500 people died –
The Israeli military issued evacuation orders to residents of seven southern towns and villages on Sunday.
Shortly after, the state news agency said Israeli warplanes struck Kaffatibnit, causing casualties, while an attack on another marked village, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, destroyed a mosque and another religious building.
NNA also reported Israeli shelling of several border villages.
AFP reporters saw gray smoke rising from Nabatiyeh al-Foka and several other locations after the Israeli attack.
The Israeli military said it had struck “rocket-launched terrorist groups and weapons storage facilities” following earlier “artillery shelling and air strikes targeting terrorist and military infrastructure sites” used by Hezbollah north of the so-called “yellow line.”
Shortly after Netanyahu’s speech, the military said it had intercepted three drones headed for Israeli territory.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,500 people and injured more than 7,700 since the war began.
UNIFIL peacekeepers said they held tributes in Beirut for an Indonesian peacekeeper who died on Friday after being injured in an explosion in southern Lebanon last month.
A preliminary UN investigation found that the explosion was caused by an Israeli tank shell.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
