Israel issues evacuation warning; kills 1, hurts 4 in Lebanon strikes

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least one person and wounded four rescuers on Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel maintained its attacks on the country despite a fragile truce in its war with Hezbollah.

In separate statements, the ministry said a strike on Arabsalim killed at least one person and wounded three, including a child, and another strike on Srifa wounded five people, including four rescuers from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.



“The ministry reiterates its condemnation of these repeated attacks and recalls what is included in Article 19 of the Geneva Convention regarding the need to verify that medical facilities are safe from any danger caused by attacks in conflict zones, while what is happening is exactly the opposite,” it said.

Israel’s military on Sunday issued new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond the area it occupies. The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns, including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops.

Arabsalim and Srifa were included in the warning.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, including on towns not mentioned in the evacuation warning.

Since April 17, a fragile ceasefire has been in place between Israel and Lebanon, which was aimed at pausing the violence between the Hezbollah militant group and Israel’s military.



On Wednesday Israel’s military chief of staff Eyal Zamir had threatened to strike Hezbollah “beyond the yellow line”, which marks the area of Israeli control. “Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces — including beyond the yellow line and north of the Litani — will be eliminated,” he said during a visit to Israeli troops.

The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”