The army said in a statement Saturday that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including on several command centers and weapons storage facilities. The army said prior to the strikes it issued advance warnings to civilians in the area.
Strikes also continued in Gaza on Saturday. At least six people were killed, half of them children, and two women, in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Associated Press reporters and staff at Nasser hospital.
After the attack, AP reporters saw people grieving over what appeared to be the lifeless body of a man, and bloodied children were seen helping each other away from the wreckage.
The death toll in the fighting in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 44,000 this week, according to local health officials. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused heavy destruction across wide areas of the coastal territory, leading many to wonder when or how it will ever be rebuilt. Around 90% of the population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are living in squalid tent camps with little food, water or basic services.
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