Israel kept up strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday despite a ceasefire, Lebanese state media reported, with authorities saying two paramedics from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed.
The state-run National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes on more than 20 locations, including two south Lebanon villages where the Israeli army had warned residents to evacuate, saying it would act against the Iran-backed group there.
Israel has expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent days, and the NNA also reported Israeli artillery shelling on several other locations in the south on Sunday.
The latest strikes come despite a ceasefire in place since April 17 that was supposed to halt the hostilities with Hezbollah, which has been carrying out its own attacks, mainly on Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon but also across the border.
A Lebanese health ministry statement said that Israel “directly targeted, with two strikes, two Health Committee sites”, killing one paramedic and wounding three others in Qalaway, and killing another paramedic and wounding two more in Tibnin.
The statement decried what it called Israel’s continued “violation of international laws”.
The Israeli military said in a statement that on Sunday its forces had struck “more than 20 terror infrastructure” sites in southern Lebanon, including Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and headquarters.
Hezbollah claimed more than 20 attacks on Israeli military targets in south Lebanon and on the border, frequently with drones.
– Rising toll –
Lebanon’s health ministry on Sunday raised the overall death toll from Israeli strikes since war erupted to 2,846 killed, including 108 health and emergency workers.
Israeli raids have killed dozens of people in Lebanon since the ceasefire.
Under the terms of the truce released by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”.
Its troops are operating behind an Israeli-declared “yellow line” that runs around 10 kilometres north of Lebanon’s border.
Residents have been warned not to return to the area south of the line.
On Saturday, the NNA reported heavy Israeli strikes across Lebanon, including one that killed at least seven people and several raids about 20 kilometres south of Beirut, outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
Lebanon and Israel are preparing to hold a third round of talks on Thursday and Friday in Washington, with veteran Lebanese diplomat Simon Karam recently appointed by President Joseph Aoun to lead his country’s delegation.
A first landmark meeting between the countries, which have no diplomatic relations, was held days before US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire, while the second round came as he announced a three-week truce extension.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
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This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
