Thirteen people killed in Israeli strike on Lebanon
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that 13 people were killed and many others were injured in Israel’s attack on the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it shot militants on Tuesday who it said were operating from a training facility in the crowded Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon.
The military said the compound was used by the Palestinian movement Hamas to launch attacks on Israel.
“The building was used by Hamas terrorists for training and exercises to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” it said in X.
“Various steps were taken before the attack to reduce harm to civilians.”
Hamas later condemned the attack in a statement.
The statement said, “The Zionist occupation army’s allegations that the targeted area is a “training campus of the movement” are pure fabrications and lies aimed at legitimizing its criminal aggression.”
While it was stated that the attack targeted an open sports field used by the camp residents, it was also stated that there were no military facilities in the refugee camps in Lebanon.
The Israeli military maintains five sites in Lebanon and frequently carries out airstrikes in the country’s south, which it says target members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah or sometimes Hamas.
Israel and Hezbollah last year agreed to a ceasefire that required the Lebanese militant group not to have any weapons in the south and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
