Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 19 people, including children and women, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued despite a recent extension of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 10 people were killed in one strike that hit a house in the town of Deir Qanoun.
Those killed included three children and three women. Three other people were injured in the same attack, among them a young girl.
The ministry also reported that another nine people were killed and 29 others wounded in Israeli air strikes targeting the Nabatieh and Tyre districts in southern Lebanon.
The latest attacks came less than a week after the United States announced that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to extend a ceasefire by 45 days. Talks between the two sides are expected to resume at the beginning of June.
Despite the ceasefire extension, cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah have continued, especially in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon became involved in the conflict on March 2 after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group launched rockets at Israel. Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel says its operations are aimed at Hezbollah fighters and military positions, but civilians have also been killed during the strikes, including women and children.
At the same time, Hezbollah has continued launching rockets and drones into northern Israel and against Israeli troops stationed in parts of southern Lebanon.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military announced that another soldier had been killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters “clashed … with a force of the Israeli enemy army that tried to advance towards the vicinity of the town square of Haddatha,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The Iran-backed group also claimed its fighters destroyed an Israeli tank.
Hezbollah further said it carried out attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and targeted Iron Dome air defence systems near the border in northern Israel, AFP reported.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the number of people killed in Israeli strikes since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began in March has now passed 3,000.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel is allowed to carry out strikes that it says are meant to stop Hezbollah military activity.
Israeli ground troops are still occupying a stretch of territory extending about 10 kilometres from the Lebanese border, an area seized during the conflict.