Israeli Strikes Kill Four Women as Netanyahu Deepens Ground Offensive in Southern Lebanon

Israeli attacks intensified across southern Lebanon on Tuesday with airstrikes, artillery shelling and expanded ground operations continuing despite an ongoing US-mediated ceasefire, and Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that four women were killed after an Israeli airstrike struck a house in the town of Maareke in the Tyre district.

Rescue teams continued searching through rubble for a missing family believed trapped beneath the destroyed building, while additional strikes on Kherbet Selem and Srifa killed two people including a health worker.

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The escalation coincided with remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel was deepening its military campaign in Lebanon and that Israeli forces were operating with “large ground forces” and controlling what he described as strategic areas.

The Palestine Chronicle also cited an Anadolu tally that Israel carried out 82 attacks across Lebanon in a single day, and it said Israeli forces have reportedly advanced approximately ten kilometers into Lebanese territory during the current offensive.

In parallel, the United Nations reported a sharp increase in activity across southern Lebanon, with UNIFIL recording ninety-one airspace violations on Monday and documenting 399 firing incidents attributed to Israeli forces and eleven projectiles attributed to Hezbollah.

Benjamin Netanyahu told a Security Cabinet meeting that Israel was “deepening” its operation in Lebanon as the military expanded ground operations, and the BBC said the Israel Defense Forces had begun a wave of strikes across Lebanon following Netanyahu’s announcement that his country would intensify its attacks on Hezbollah.

The BBC reported that Hezbollah retaliated by carrying out 22 drone and rocket attacks and that its targets included Israeli soldiers, tanks, barracks and buildings, while the IDF said it had “struck more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and terrorists”.

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Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in direct confrontations with advancing Israeli forces on the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, and Al Mayadeen reported that clashes began before dawn after an Israeli force advanced toward the southern town following extensive airstrikes and artillery shelling.

At approximately 8:45 a.m., Hezbollah stated that its fighters destroyed an Israeli Merkava tank using an Ababil attack drone, and it said clashes remained ongoing.

The BBC also reported that the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the southern town of Nabatieh due to possible strikes, while UNIFIL’s Farhan Haq said the mission recorded ninety-one airspace violations on Monday.

Lebanon’s National News Agency and UN figures described a worsening humanitarian picture as nearly one million people remain displaced across Lebanon, and the Palestine Chronicle said families fleeing recent attacks were reportedly seen spending the night in vehicles in Beirut while shelters in the capital received dozens of newly displaced families.

The BBC reported that since the ceasefire agreement was signed on 16 April, Israeli attacks have been largely confined to the south of the country, where Israeli troops remain and from where Israel says drones and rockets have been launched, while more than one million people have been displaced by near daily orders for Lebanese citizens to leave their homes in new areas in the south.

In Washington, officials from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, were due to hold further negotiations next week, and the BBC said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

The New York Times reported that Netanyahu had ordered the military to “increase the blows” against Hezbollah, and it said the Israeli military struck more than 100 Hezbollah sites overnight in southern and eastern Lebanon.

France 24 framed the stakes as a risk of a “new occupation,” saying Lebanese authorities were fearing a 'new occupation' as the Israeli intervention in southern Lebanon strengthened Hezbollah’s power and influence over time.