JERUSALEM: Israel’s military on Friday said a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon earlier this week had killed “13 Hamas terrorists.”
Lebanese authorities said Tuesday’s strike on Ain Al-Helweh camp killed at least 13 people, without giving their identities.
“Thirteen Hamas terrorists were eliminated in a precise IDF (military) strike targeting the organization’s training compound in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Those killed included “Jawad Sidawi, who was involved in training terrorists in order to carry out terror attacks from Lebanese territory” against Israel and its troops, the statement said.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for the names of the 12 other people killed in the strike.
Israel’s military “is operating against Hamas’s establishment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate,” it said.
In a statement released Thursday, accompanied by pictures of 13 young-looking men, Hamas described the strike as a “horrific massacre that caused the deaths of several innocent civilian martyrs.”
On Tuesday, the militant group denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon and called Israel’s claims “lies.”
The Israeli military released a video of a strike hitting a building, but Hamas said that “the targeted site was an open sports field frequented by the youth of the camp,” and that “those targeted were a group of young boys” on the field at the time.
The crowded Ain Al-Helweh camp, located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon, is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreed last November that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hamas ally Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.
Israeli military says Lebanon strike killed 13 Hamas militants
https://arab.news/9c74u
Israeli military says Lebanon strike killed 13 Hamas militants
- Lebanese authorities said Tuesday’s strike on Ain Al-Helweh camp killed at least 13 people
- Israel said the strike targeted the organization’s training compound in southern Lebanon
Lebanon urges UNSC delegation to press Israel to respect ceasefire
- Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged a United Nations Security Council delegation on Friday to pressure Israel to respect a year-old ceasefire and to support his army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
Aoun “stressed the need to pressure the Israeli side to implement the ceasefire and withdraw, and expressed his hope for pressure from the delegation,” according to a statement from the presidency.
He also noted “Lebanon’s commitment to implementing international resolutions” and asked the envoys to support the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm non-government groups.
The Lebanese government ordered its military to fully disarm Hezbollah in August, and the army expects to complete the first phase of its plan by the end of the year.
The UN delegation visited Damascus on Thursday and after its meeting with Aoun was due to inspect the border area in southern Lebanon on Saturday, accompanied by US envoy Morgan Ortagus.
The visit comes as Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades.
On Thursday, Information Minister Paul Morcos quoted Aoun calling the initial negotiations “positive” and stressing “the need for the language of negotiation — not the language of war — to prevail.”
That same day, Israel struck four southern Lebanese towns, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure including weapons depots to stop the group from rearming.
UN peacekeepers called the strikes “clear violations of Security Council resolution 1701,” which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The peacekeepers also said their vehicles were fired on by six men on three mopeds near Bint Jbeil on Thursday. There were no injuries in the incident.
“Attacks on peacekeepers are unacceptable and serious violations of resolution 1701,” the international force added.
Hezbollah refuses to disarm but has not responded to Israeli attacks since the ceasefire. It has, however, promised a response to the killing of its military chief in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs last month.
