Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 17 people including two children despite ceasefire

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 17 people including two children on Thursday, despite a ceasefire negotiated two weeks ago.

Lebanon’s health authorities said that 35 people including nine children and eight women were also injured in the attacks.

Israel says it is attacking Hezbollah infrastructure and issued evacuation warnings for 15 villages in southern Lebanon, many which were outside of the “yellow line” that marks the limits of its occupation in the country.

“Pressure must be exerted on Israel to ensure it respects international laws and conventions, and ceases targeting civilians, paramedics, civil defence and humanitarian organisations,” said Lebanese president Joseph Aoun in the aftermath of the latest attacks.

A ceasefire was agreed between the countries on 16 April but Lebanon’s army reported that Israel had carried out multiple violations of the deal hours into the historic truce that had been agreed in Washington. France has also accused Israel of violating the agreement but Israel says Hezbollah is to blame for the ongoing hostilities.

US president Donald Trump announced a three-week extension to the agreement last week.

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Earlier this week, “double-tap” strikes killed nine people including three rescue workers, according to Lebanese officials.

Attacks on Lebanon’s capital of Beirut have largely been stopped by the deal but evacuation orders, air raids and strikes continue in several areas in the south.

According to reports, the ceasefire permits Israel to respond to “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks” but this aspect of the truce has been rejected by Hezbollah.

More than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since war broke out on 2 March shortly after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, which have led to upheaval in the region and across global oil markets.

Hezbollah fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to the attacks that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for what it says is an ongoing encroachment of Lebanon’s borders.

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Israel has said it plans to occupy a 10km (6 mile) wide buffer zone along the border and will prevent people from returning until it perceives that the threat from Hezbollah has been eliminated.

In response to numerous questions, the Israeli military has said it issues warnings by phone, text, radio broadcast, social media and leaflets dropped from the air, in accordance with the “principles of distinction, proportionality and feasible precautions” under international law.

However, on 8 April, a hundred targets were attacked in rapid succession without warning, killing more than 350 people in one of the deadliest attacks in Lebanon’s history dubbed “Black Wednesday”.

“I expressed France’s full solidarity in the face of the indiscriminate strikes carried out by Israel in Lebanon today, which resulted in a very high number of civilian casualties,” president Emmanuel Macron wrote at the time. “We condemn these strikes in the strongest possible terms.”

The Independent has approached the IDF for comment.

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