Israeli Air Strikes Kill Eight In South Lebanon, Including Three Civil Defense Rescuers

Israeli air strikes in south Lebanon killed eight people on Tuesday, including three civil defense rescuers, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, even as an ongoing ceasefire remained in effect.

“Toggle Play Lebanese girl mourns paramedic father killed in Israeli strike A young girl in southern Lebanon joined hundreds mourning her father, one of three paramedics killed in an Israeli “double-tap” strike during the US-brokered ceasefire”

Al Jazeera

The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli air raid on the town of Majdalzoun “in a preliminary toll killed five martyrs,” including “three paramedics from the Lebanese civil defense who were trapped under the rubble after a strike that targeted them while they were carrying out a rescue mission”.

Al Jazeera

It later said another two people were killed and 13 injured in an Israeli strike in the town of Jebchit in south Lebanon, and that one person was killed and 15 were hurt—among them five children and five women—in a separate Israeli strike on Jwaya.

Lebanon’s army reported two of its troops were wounded “as a result of a hostile Israeli targeting of an army patrol,” and said the statement was the first time it had acknowledged troops had been targeted since the truce began.

In parallel, the Israeli military said it had found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military also said it sought to intercept “a suspicious aerial target” on three separate occasions on Tuesday where troops were operating, without saying what it was.

The strikes and counter-strikes unfolded alongside a fresh evacuation order, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar telling reporters Israel had “no territorial ambitions in Lebanon” and would leave south Lebanon when “Hezbollah and other terror organizations.. are dismantled”.

Two successive Israeli air strikes on a building in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed nine people, including three emergency workers, Lebanese officials said, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the attack as a “war crime”.

The BBC reported that the Lebanese health ministry said the three members of the Lebanese Civil Defense had been sent to rescue those wounded in the first strike in the town of Majdal Zoun, and that they were trapped under rubble caused by the second strike and later confirmed dead.

Anadolu Ajansı

The BBC said the ministry did not identify the six other fatalities, while also reporting that two Lebanese army soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The BBC also named the three rescue workers killed on Tuesday as Hussein Ghadbouni, Hussein Sati and Hadi Daher.

It described the tactic as “double tap”, where an initial attack is followed by a second or more, often hitting civilians and rescuers, and said it has been used by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza.

The BBC reported that the Israeli military said it had struck what it described as a Hezbollah commander who operated in proximity to soldiers in the Israeli-occupied area of southern Lebanon, without providing evidence.

The BBC further said Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the “targeting” of the rescuers as a “war crime perpetrated by Israel”, condemning Israel’s “ongoing violations of the ceasefire”.

In the same broader conflict, the BBC said more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since 2 March, including 103 health professionals, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and it cited figures that include at least 270 women and more than 170 children.

While Lebanese officials described the strikes as targeting rescue missions, the Israeli military framed Tuesday’s actions as both operational and infrastructural.

“Israeli 'double-tap' strike kills three rescue workers in Lebanon, officials say Two successive Israeli air strikes on a building in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed nine people, including three emergency workers, Lebanese officials say, in what the country's prime minister described as a "war crime"”

BBC

Naharnet reported that the Israeli military announced it had found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters in southern Lebanon, and said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since early March, sending troops into south Lebanon to battle the Iran-backed militant group.

It also reported that the Israeli military said troops in Qantara found “two Hezbollah terror tunnels, constructed over approximately a decade” that stretched two kilometers, using “over 450 tons of explosives” to demolish them.

Naharnet said state media reported an Israeli detonation left a “large crater” in Qantara, after earlier reporting a “major demolition operation” in the town, and AFP images showed two large columns of smoke rising from the site.

It quoted an Israeli military source describing the tunnels as a “massive underground military installation” comprising an 800-metre tunnel and a second which ran for 1.2 kilometers, used as “an assembly area” for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces.

The same source said the tunnels ran under civilian infrastructure, including a school and a mosque, and were equipped with sleeping quarters, showers, toilets, kitchenettes and five assembly halls, adding it was “designed, sponsored and paid for by Iran”.

Naharnet also quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “Today we blew up a huge Hezbollah terror tunnel,” vowing to continue targeting the militants' infrastructure.

Alongside these claims, Naharnet described a fresh evacuation order aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns, urging them to “immediately head northwards” and move “towards the Sidon District,” as written by the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on X.

Lebanese officials and health authorities condemned the strikes on rescue teams as violations of international law, while Israel disputed the characterization.

Naharnet reported that President Joseph Aoun denounced the attack on Majdalzoun, saying “Israel continues to violate international laws and conventions that protect civilians”.

Kurdistan24

It also quoted Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying Israel had “no territorial ambitions in Lebanon” and would leave south Lebanon when “Hezbollah and other terror organizations.. are dismantled”.

The BBC reported that Nawaf Salam described the “targeting” of the rescuers as a “war crime perpetrated by Israel”, condemning Israel’s “ongoing violations of the ceasefire”.

TRT عربي said the Lebanese ministry condemned the targeting as a direct targeting of humanitarian work and urged the international community to intervene to stop what it described as “serious violations” against medical teams.

TRT عربي also said the Lebanese Foreign Ministry filed an urgent complaint with the United Nations over the targeting of medical and ambulance facilities, noting that the attacks have affected 17 hospitals and 101 ambulance teams since the start of the escalation, killing 73 rescuers.

The same TRT عربي report said the Israeli Security Cabinet was set to discuss an American proposal to halt the fighting, quoting an Israeli official: 'There are talks to halt the fighting with Lebanon and a proposal was presented at the request of the United States, but the gunfire will not stop as long as Hezbollah continues to fire.'

In a separate account, Yeni Şafak reported that Lebanese authorities described the attack on Civil Defense personnel in Majdal Zoun as a “new war crime” and “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” and it quoted Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying targeting Civil Defense personnel while performing their noble duty constitutes “a clearly described and new war crime being committed by Israel”.

The reporting also underscored how the fighting’s humanitarian toll and the pattern of attacks on medical teams were shaping the next phase of the conflict.

“Israeli strikes kill eight in south Lebanon, including 3 paramedics The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed eight people, including civil defense rescuers, and wounded two soldiers in the country's south, despite an ongoing ceasefire”

Naharnet

The BBC said the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started on 2 March after Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel and that since then more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 103 health professionals, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Naharnet

It said the Lebanese health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says the number includes at least 270 women and more than 170 children.

Anadolu Ajansı reported that since dawn on Saturday, Israel had killed 14 people, including three rescuers, in several towns in southern Lebanon, and it listed towns such as Toul in Nabatieh District and Zefta in Nabatieh District, along with Kfar Sir and al-Qasiba.

TRT عربي said the Health Ministry announced 43 people killed and 140 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the toll since March 2 to 2,167 dead and 7,061 injured, as Israeli strikes continued for the eighth day in a row.

It also said the Lebanese Foreign Ministry complaint noted that attacks affected 17 hospitals and 101 ambulance teams since the start of the escalation, killing 73 rescuers.

Kurdistan24 reported that on Wednesday, Lebanese authorities said Israel targeted ambulance crews in three consecutive airstrikes against emergency teams in the town of Meivdon in the south, killing four medics and injuring others, and it cited the Lebanese Public Health Ministry’s description that the strike hit rescue teams “three times in a row”.

The same Kurdistan24 report said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the attack, stressing the need to protect medical personnel under international law, and it quoted the office: 'Deliberate attacks on civilians constitute a war crime, and accountability is essential.'

In parallel, Al Jazeera reported that a young girl in southern Lebanon joined hundreds mourning her father, one of three paramedics killed in an Israeli “double-tap” strike during the US-brokered ceasefire, and it said “At least 95 emergency responders have been killed in Lebanon, a pattern the UN says may amount to a war crime.”