BEIRUT: Lebanese officials said that Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 274 people and injured more than 700 on Monday, the highest daily death toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
“Continued Israeli enemy raids on southern towns and villages over killed 274 people and injured more than 727, with children, women and emergency workers among the dead and wounded,” Lebanon‘s health ministry said in a statement, adding that the toll was provisional.
This latest round of strikes, described as the heaviest since hostilities intensified, targeted over 300 sites linked to the Hezbollah group in Lebanon. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari ordered Lebanese civilians to avoid areas associated with Hezbollah as strikes are expected to continue.
“We will engage in extensive and precise strikes against terror targets, which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon,” Hagari stated.
The escalation follows a series of incidents that began last week, escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Lebanon could become “another Gaza” and expressed concern that neither side appears interested in pursuing a ceasefire.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that more than 80 airstrikes occurred in just half an hour on Monday, with significant bombings also noted in the Bekaa Valley. Notably, a shepherd was killed in these strikes.
Prior to this latest escalation, approximately 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since October. Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks into northern Israel.
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Earlier today, Lebanon’s Minister for Education said schools in the country’s east and south as well as in Beirut’s southern suburbs would shut for the next two days as Israeli attacks intensified.
In a statement, Minister Abbas Halabi has announced the closure of private and public schools on Monday and Tuesday in the region due to current security and military situations that “pose a threat to the movement of students.
The development comes as the Israeli military said it had attacked over 300 Hezbollah sites in Lebanon in a wave of strikes that started early on Monday. The Israeli military claimed that over 300 Hezbollah sites have been attacked since Monday morning.
In a statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned a “destructive plan” amid intense Israeli attacks Monday on east and south Lebanon and as Israel’s army claimed it attacked Hezbollah targets.
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The ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy villages and towns of Lebanon,” Mikati expressed these remarks during a cabinet meeting. He urged the United Nations and the General Assembly and influential countries to prevent the Israeli aggression”.
