BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday that the death toll from Israeli strikes across the country two days earlier was 357, up from a previous count of 303, while it said 1,223 more people were wounded.
“The toll is still not final, due to the ongoing removal of rubble and the presence of a large amount of human remains” requiring DNA testing, the ministry statement said, after Israel’s massive strikes on Wednesday.
The ministry also raised the overall toll in Lebanon since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2 to 1,953 dead and 6,303 wounded.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said airstrikes it carried out in Lebanon two days earlier killed more than 180 Hezbollah militants.
“Following an initial intelligence assessment... it can be determined that the IDF eliminated more than 180 militants from the Hezbollah terrorist organization. The count is still ongoing,” the military said.
