Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 14 in deadliest day since ceasefire began

The Israeli government and Hezbollah have traded blame over breaches to the truce, which is set to run for several more weeks

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on 2 March by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. Pictured are displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Picture: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south killed 14 people on Sunday, the deadliest day since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force over a week ago.

The health ministry said the dead on Sunday included two women and two children, adding that 37 other people were wounded. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed.

The US-mediated ceasefire – which started on 16 April and has been extended to mid-May – has brought a significant reduction in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, though both sides have continued to fire at each other, trading blame over breaches.

“Hezbollah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday, adding “we act vigorously according to the rules we agreed upon with the United States, and also, by the way, with Lebanon.” 

Hezbollah said it would not cease its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and on towns in northern Israel as long as Israel continued its “ceasefire violations”.

The Iran-backed group added in a statement that it would not wait for diplomacy that has “proven ineffective” or rely on Lebanese authorities that had “failed to protect the country.” Israeli troops are operating inside what they have labelled a “yellow line”, which demarcates a ribbon of Lebanese territory around 10km deep along the length of the border, where residents have been warned not to return.

The Israeli military repeated the warning on Sunday, telling residents to leave seven towns beyond the “buffer zone” it occupied before the ceasefire. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said Hezbollah was violating the ceasefire and that Israel would act against it, telling people to head north and west away from the towns. The towns are north of the Litani River and the zone in southern Lebanon occupied by Israeli troops. The military said that it struck Hezbollah fighters, rocket launchers and a weapons depot.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli strikes in multiple locations in the south on Sunday, both in areas where Israel issued an evacuation warning and elsewhere.

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli troops inside Lebanon as well as the rescue force that came to evacuate them. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed and six more were wounded. The Israeli military said it had intercepted three drones before they crossed into Israeli territory on Sunday, after sirens sounded in northern Israel.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on 2 March by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. More than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since then.

The toll includes 277 women, 177 children and 100 medics, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The ministry does not otherwise distinguish between militants and civilians, and Hezbollah has not announced a total toll of its fighters. The group has buried dozens of fighters in group funerals in recent days.

Hezbollah attacks have killed two civilians in Israel while 16 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since 2 March, Israel says.

 - Guardian, Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report