A total of at least 12 people were killed on Wednesday in southern Lebanon, including six Israeli soldiers and six people who died when Israeli jets hit a building, reports from both Israel and Lebanon showed.
Israel’s armed forces announced that six of their soldiers were killed in fighting in south Lebanon, while eye witnesses reported at least six people died and 15 others were injured when Israeli jets struck a building south of Beirut.
The soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with four Hezbollah members in a building, Israeli media reported, citing an initial army investigation. According to the reports, another soldier was injured in the incident.
The Israeli military said five of those killed were between 20 and 22 years old. The army did not initially provide any information on the identity of the sixth soldier.
On an Israeli army memorial page, the total number of soldiers killed since the beginning of the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon was given as 792.
The conflict between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah began more than a year ago following rocket attacks by the Lebanese militia in support of Gaza-based Hamas, which has been hit hard by Israel after carrying out a major terrorist attack on Israeli soil in October 2023.
Israeli airstrikes kill 6 south of Beirut
Images showed that several floors of the building in the Aley district, where the people were killed, were severely damaged in the pre-dawn bombing raid. There was no initial information as to the identity of those killed, including whether they had belonged to Hezbollah.
Residents said they had spent the night outdoors for fear of further attacks. “These days, you have to know who your neighbours are,” one resident told dpa in reference to members of the Hezbollah militia being targeted by Israeli forces.
Hezbollah members have been buying homes in the area in recent years.
The Israeli military reported attacks on Hezbollah arms depots and command centres in Dahiyeh in the south of Beirut. It called once more on residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate ahead of further attacks.
Hezbollah said that IDF ground troops had withdrawn across the border from most villages in the south of the country.
UN: Nearly 14,000 pregnant women caught in Lebanon conflict
Meanwhile, nearly 14,000 pregnant women in Lebanon have been affected by the war, according to a report published on Wednesday by the UN human rights office.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that around 1,500 of them are due to give birth in the coming weeks, according to recent data.
In general, the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse of women is high in the overcrowded shelters in Lebanon, it said.
According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), fighting in Lebanon has displaced some 880,000 people within the country. Another 470,000 have fled across the border into neighbouring Syria, where a civil war broke out in 2011.
OCHA has appealed to international donors for $426 million to provide essential support to those affected in Lebanon. To date, only about a quarter of this target has been raised.
