Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Friday that air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country killed at least six people and left more than 25 wounded, who were “distributed across the region’s hospitals”, according to NNA.
NNA later updated the preliminary death toll to “more than 10” with at least 30 wounded from the attack on a building in the town of Riyaq, located in the Bekaa governorate.
A search operation for survivors is still ongoing at the site, NNA said.
Israel’s army said it hit “Hezbollah command centres” in the Baalbek area of Bekaa, while a Hezbollah source told news agency AFP that a military leader from the armed group was among the dead.
Earlier on Friday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said at least two people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Ein el-Hilweh camp, the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.
NNA reported that an “Israeli drone” had targeted the Hittin neighbourhood of the camp.
The Israeli army said in a statement that its forces had “struck a Hamas command centre from which terrorists operated” in response to “repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings”.
Hamas condemned the attack, which it said led to “civilian” casualties.
NNA reported that the strike on the refugee camp caused “significant damage” to a building that had previously been used by the joint Palestinian force responsible for the camp’s security, but was now being rented by an individual to “operate a kitchen distributing food aid”.
Last November, Israel conducted a major raid on Ein el-Helweh that killed 13 people, including 11 children, according to the United Nations rights office.
The military said it was targeting Hamas, who called the claim a “fabrication”, stressing the group does not have training facilities in Lebanon’s refugee camps.
Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with the Hezbollah armed group.
According to the UN, the Israeli military launched more than 10,000 air and ground attacks in the year since it agreed to halt hostilities.
The UN rights office said in November last year that it verified at least 108 civilian casualties from Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, including at least 21 women and 16 children.
Lebanon filed a complaint with the UN last month about the repeated Israeli violations, urging the UN Security Council to push Israel to end its attacks and fully withdraw from the country.
Israel continues to occupy five areas in Lebanese territory, blocking the reconstruction of destroyed border villages and preventing tens of thousands of displaced people from returning to their homes.
On Sunday, Lebanon said an Israeli strike near the Syrian border in the country’s east killed four people, as Israel said it targeted operatives from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group in Lebanon.