Lebanon’s health ministry said Saturday that Israeli strikes killed six people in the country’s south, 10 days into a ceasefire between the Hezbollah group and Israel.
Both Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah face accusations of having breached the truce that took effect on November 27 to end a war that has killed thousands in Lebanon and sparked mass displacements on both sides.
“The Israeli enemy’s airstrike on the town of Beit Lif resulted in the martyrdom of five people and the injury of five others,” a health ministry statement said, adding that in a separate incident a drone strike killed one person in Deir Seryan.
The two locations are more than 20 kilometers apart.
Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah militant in southern Lebanon, one of multiple operations against “activities … that posed a threat” to Israel.
“In one case, the (military) identified a Hezbollah terrorist who posed a threat to the troops deployed in southern Lebanon in violation” of the ceasefire, the military said, adding the air force “struck the terrorist.”
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that “an enemy drone targeted a motorcycle in Deir Seryan”
On Monday the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed nine people in southern Lebanon after Israel said it was taking aim at dozens of Hezbollah targets in retaliation for an attack claimed by the militant group.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ceasefire was “holding” despite a series of incidents.
A committee including France, United Nations peacekeepers, Israel, and Lebanon and chaired by the United States is tasked with maintaining communication between the various parties and ensuring violations are identified and dealt with to avoid any escalation.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on “the international community, particularly the parties sponsoring security arrangements, to work seriously and decisively to halt the ongoing violations by the enemy, ensure its withdrawal from occupied territories and actively contribute to implementing the ceasefire.”
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 34 Palestinians on Saturday, health officials in the enclave said, as Qatar voiced hope of fresh momentum in efforts to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The health officials said that an Israeli strike hit a house in Gaza City late Saturday, killing four women. The Israeli military did not provide an immediate comment on Saturday’s strikes across Gaza.
The death toll was revised upward from 30 reported earlier in the day by the Palestinian health ministry, which also said dozens were wounded.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in the daily death tallies.
Neither AFP nor Reuters could independently verify the figures.
Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages in their October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel that sparked the current war. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed about 44,500 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terror groups by the United States, Britain and other Western countries.
Nearly three-quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is displaced, and nearly the entire population is at risk of famine, according to the United Nations.
Some information in this story is from Reuters.
