World
Lebanon Death Toll Tops 2,750 as Israeli Strikes Kill 23 More Amid Ceasefire Violations
Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people across southern Lebanon on Saturday, even as a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah entered its third week with no sign of holding.
The Day’s Deadliest Strike
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said the single deadliest attack of the day hit the town of al-Saksakieh in the southern Sidon district, killing at least seven people, including a child, and wounding 15 others, among them three children.
A Bloody Day Across the South
The strikes did not stop there. Israeli attacks killed a Syrian man and his daughter in Nabatieh, three people in Nahrain, three more in Saadiyat, another three in Haboush, and one person in Mefdoun.
Later in the day, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone fired a guided missile at a motorcycle near shops along the Toul-Doueir road, killing one person. Three young men were also killed when an air raid struck a building in the al-Bayad neighbourhood of Nabatieh.
Lebanese state media later reported additional air attacks on several other towns across southern Lebanon, though no immediate casualty information was available.
The Bigger Picture
Saturday’s deaths are part of a pattern that has continued despite last month’s ceasefire, which was supposed to halt fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah. Since April 16 alone, Israeli forces have killed nearly 500 people in Lebanon, as per a report from Al Jazeera. The overall death toll since Israel began its invasion and bombardment of Lebanon on March 2 has now surpassed 2,750, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel has also continued issuing evacuation orders for towns across southern Lebanon, maintaining a buffer zone that is keeping hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese from returning to their homes.
Israel believes that the kinetic operations in Lebanon are necessary to ensure that the Hezbollah is dismantled.
Talks Ahead, But Lebanon Has Conditions
The intensified strikes come one day after the US announced it would host a second round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on May 14 and 15 in Washington, DC. The US State Department said the talks would work toward “a comprehensive peace and security agreement that substantively addresses the core concerns of both countries.”
Lebanese authorities, however, have made clear they want Israeli strikes to stop before any negotiations take place. That demand has so far gone unmet.
