Lebanon’s health ministry said on Monday that 274 of its citizens were killed and at least 1,024 injured in Israeli airstrikes in the southern part of the country, reported the BBC. The dead include 21 children.
Israel carried out between 150 to 400 strikes targeting around 800 assets of the militant group Hezbollah across dozens of towns. Hezbollah retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles towards two Israeli military bases, reported Al Jazeera.
Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday asked all hospitals in the southern and eastern parts of the country “to stop all non-essential surgery in order to make space to treat the wounded due to the expanding Israeli aggression on Lebanon”.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najid Mikati said in a meeting with his Cabinet: “The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns.”
He urged “the United Nations and the General Assembly and influential countries…to deter the [Israeli] aggression”.
Lebanese telecom operator Ogero claimed that citizens in South Lebanon and the capital Beirut received more than 80,000 suspected Israeli call attempts on Monday asking them to evacuate. These calls were described as “psychological warfare to make havoc and chaos”.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said it was continuing to “monitor Hezbollah’s preparations” to proactively thwart any attacks on its territory. The Israeli military was systematically broadening its strikes against the militant group, the spokesperson added.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas. The wave of explosions in Lebanon is being seen as a significant escalation in the tensions in West Asia.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then. The attacks have killed more than 40,000 persons, including 16,500 children.
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