At least 40 killed in Lebanon as Israeli troops battle Hezbollah

WHO says 28 health workers have been killed in Lebanon in the past day

BEIRUT: At least 40 people were killed 24 hours in southern Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah positions amid ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and the militant group. The strikes come as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group, have reached their highest levels in years, exacerbated by the wider regional conflict triggered by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Lebanese capital killed nine people on Thursday, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The ministry says it is running DNA tests on remains to identify other possible victims in the attack early Thursday. There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit the building close to the United Nations headquarters, the Prime Minister's office and Parliament. Hezbollah's civil defence unit said seven of its members were killed. The Israeli military said eight soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.

Prior to the attack, the ministry said 55 people were killed and 156 others were wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza, where over 41,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to local health officials.

The World Health Organisation says that 28 health workers in Lebanon have been killed in the past day.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described a dire situation in treating casualties, with three dozen health facilities closed in southern Lebanon and five hospitals either partly or fully evacuated in Beirut. Tedros says health workers are not showing up at their jobs because they’ve fled areas that have been bombed.