Lebanon’s health ministry said two paramedics from the Islamic Health Committee were killed and five others wounded on Sunday in two Israeli strikes on the country’s south despite a ceasefire.
As the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on a variety of other south Lebanon areas, Israel’s army warned residents of three villages to evacuate, saying it would act forcefully against the Iran-backed group there.
Israel has kept up strikes despite a ceasefire in place since April 17 that was supposed to halt hostilities with Hezbollah, while the group has pressed on with its own attacks, mainly on Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon but also across the border.
A Lebanese health ministry statement said that Israel “directly targeted, with two strikes, two Health Committee sites”, killing one paramedic and wounding three others in Qalaway, and killing another paramedic and wounding two others in Tibnin.
The statement decried what it called Israel’s continued “violation of international laws”.
The Israeli military said in a statement that on Sunday its forces had struck “more than 20 terror infrastructure” targets in southern Lebanon, including Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and headquarters.
Israel has expanded its strikes in recent days, and the health ministry on Sunday raised the overall death toll from Israeli strikes since war erupted to 2,846 killed, including 108 health and emergency workers.
Israeli raids have killed dozens of people in Lebanon since the ceasefire.
Under the terms of the truce released by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”.
Its troops are operating behind an Israeli-declared “yellow line” which runs around 10 kilometres (six miles)north of Lebanon’s border.
Residents have been warned not to return to the area.
On Saturday, the NNA reported heavy Israeli strikes in various parts of Lebanon including one that killed seven people, and several raids around 20 kilometres south of Beirut outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
Lebanon and Israel are preparing to hold a third round of talks on May 14-15 in Washington, with veteran Lebanese diplomat Simon Karam recently appointed by President Joseph Aoun to lead his country’s delegation.
A first landmark meeting between the countries, which have no diplomatic relations, was held days before US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire, while the second round came as he announced a three-week truce extension.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
