Israeli Drones Strike Highway South Of Beirut, Killing Eight Including Two Children

Israeli drones struck three vehicles on the main highway south of Beirut on Wednesday, killing eight people including two children, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

The Health Ministry said the three raids carried out by the Israeli enemy on the Saida-South coastal highway specifically in Barja, Jiyeh and Saadiyat resulted in 8 martyrs, including two children.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, said the “conflict is only escalating” as the attacks hit the Jiyeh area about 20km (12 miles) south of the Lebanese capital.

The BBC also reported that Lebanon said at least 13 people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire has failed to stop the war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said overnight six people were killed and seven others were injured when a house in Kfar Dounine was hit, according to the BBC.

The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for residents of Meiss el-Jabal, Yanouh, Burj Shemali, Hula, Debl and Aabbasiyyeh, warning it would soon act against these six southern Lebanese villages “forcefully”.

Al Jazeera’s Khodr said one of the few remaining hospitals in the area was in the displacement zone, adding, “There are only three left in the whole district of Tyre, and there are still people who live here.”

Al Jazeera

Khodr said injured people were unable to reach care because “the road is a long journey to reach these hospitals and people are still in villages further south.”

The BBC reported that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed “sadness and regret at the killing of two Civil Defence members” in Nabatieh and emphasised that “the continued Israeli aggression hinders efforts to restore calm”.

Lebanon’s health ministry also accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting the paramedics, saying “This targeting constitutes further evidence of the Israeli enemy's blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.

Lebanon and Israel were expected to hold a new round of direct negotiations in Washington on Thursday, brokered by the United States, while Hezbollah said it opposes the negotiations in the US.

Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem warned that he would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israel, as Israeli strikes continued despite a truce since April 17 aimed at halting the fighting.

The BBC said at least 2,869 people have so far been killed in Lebanon, including at least 380 since the ceasefire came into force, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Al Jazeera reported that Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said at least 380 people have been killed during the truce, bringing the total death toll since the Israeli invasion and bombardment began on March 2 to more than 2,800.

In a separate development, the Al Jazeera report said the ministry reported that on Monday 108 emergency medical services and healthcare workers had been killed in Lebanon during the war, with more than 140 Israeli attacks recorded on ambulances and medical facilities.