Israeli Strikes Kill 394 in Lebanon, Including 83 Children — Health Minister

Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon have killed at least 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women, the country’s health minister said on Sunday, as Israel expanded its attacks to a hotel in central Beirut.

Lebanon was drawn into the escalating Middle East conflict on Monday after the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel. The strikes were carried out in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a U.S.–Israeli military campaign against Iran.

Lebanon’s Health Minister, Rakan Nassereddine, said during a press conference that nine rescue workers were among those killed. He condemned what he described as attacks on civilians, medical teams, and ambulances.

“These are civilians being targeted, not, as they claim, military personnel and military installations. They are targeting homes, paramedics and the health sector,” Nassereddine said, adding that “the pace of the massacres has increased in the past 48 hours.”

A previous casualty figure released on Saturday had placed the death toll at 294.

Israel has continued its strikes against Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending a previous round of fighting that began in 2023 when the group attacked Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.

Following Hezbollah’s latest attacks on Monday, Israeli forces have launched several waves of airstrikes across Lebanon and deployed ground troops to areas near the border.

Early Sunday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike struck a hotel room in central Beirut, killing four people and injuring 10 others.

Israel’s military said it had carried out a “precise strike” targeting senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, which oversees Iran’s foreign military operations.

In the southern town of Ghazieh, an Israeli attack destroyed a building, with solar panels seen scattered across the rubble as rescue workers searched for survivors.

Another strike in the village of Sir al-Gharbiyeh killed at least 11 people on Sunday morning, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The minister said the victims included children and warned that several people were still trapped under the debris.

A resident, Ali Youssef Taha, told AFP that a family had been asleep inside the building when Israeli warplanes struck, describing the incident as a “massacre.”

The town’s mayor, Saadallah Mohammed Maatouk, said about 500 families were sheltering in the area but vowed that the community would remain resilient.

“What happened will not deter us, and we remain steadfast,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military renewed its warning for residents living south of Lebanon’s Litani River, roughly 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, to evacuate the area.

Israel also reported that two of its soldiers were killed during combat in southern Lebanon the first Israeli troop fatalities since the latest offensive began on March 2.

AFP