BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – The death toll from Israeli attacks on since early Monday has risen to 294, with 1,023 people injured, Lebanon’s authorities said Saturday.
In a statement, the Public Health Emergency Operations Center at the Ministry of Public Health said the casualties were recorded between Monday and Saturday afternoon, as Israeli airstrikes and shelling continue to hit several areas across southern and eastern Lebanon.
The number of displaced people registered through Lebanon’s government relief platform has reached about 454,000, Minister of Social Affairs Haneen Sayed said on Saturday, as Israel continues to attack several areas of the country.
According to the National News Agency, Sayed said 112,525 internally displaced people from 26,163 families are currently staying in 514 official shelter centers nationwide.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said in separate statements that its members carried out several retaliatory attacks against Israeli forces.
About 100 rockets and drones were launched from Lebanon toward Israel over the course of Saturday, while Israeli tanks advanced toward a southern Lebanese border town, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel reported, as cross-border hostilities intensified amid ongoing Israeli attacks on several areas across Lebanon.
The Islamic Resistance, the armed wing of Hezbollah, said the projectiles were fired from Lebanese territory toward Israeli targets during the day.
Israeli media reported that rockets continued to be launched from Lebanon toward northern Israeli settlements, with sirens sounding in Kiryat Shmona and Margaliot.
Hezbollah said in separate statements that its fighters targeted radar systems of the Iron Dome air defense system at the Kiryat Eliezer site, described as the main air defense base in the city of Haifa, at 8:00 pm local time with a salvo of what it called “precision rockets.”
In another statement, the group said it also targeted the Stella Maris base, a strategic facility used for maritime monitoring and surveillance along Israel’s northern coast, with a similar rocket barrage at the same time. The group also renewed its warning to residents of Nahariyya and Kiryat Shmona, urging them to evacuate.
Separately, Lebanon’s Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh condemned Israeli strikes that caused material damage to the Al-Bass archaeological site in the city of Tyre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to NNA.
Salameh said Lebanon’s archaeological sites contain no military or security presence and are managed directly by the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities, noting that he has contacted UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany, requesting international intervention to help protect Lebanon’s cultural heritage during the ongoing conflict.
Meanwhile, Al-Manar TV reported that several Israeli Merkava tanks advanced from the Israeli settlement of Avivim toward the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun.
According to Al-Manar, the advancing Israeli force was met with a volley of rockets, while heavy machine-gun fire was heard in the Al-Zuqaq neighborhood on the outskirts of the town.
Hezbollah announced the launch of rockets from Lebanon toward Israel early Monday for the first time since a ceasefire was declared on Nov 27, 2024, prompting the government to announce a ban on its security and military activities, limiting it to political work and obligating it to hand over its weapons.
Amid the escalating tensions, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun received a phone call from Spain’s King Felipe VI, who affirmed Spain’s support for Lebanon and expressed the solidarity of the Spanish people with the Lebanese people. Aoun also received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron as part of ongoing consultations between the two leaders to follow developments and contacts aimed at halting the military escalation, the NNA reported.
On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz appealed to Aoun and demanded the disarmament of Hezbollah, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Katz warned that “we will not allow harm to our communities and soldiers, and if things stand against each other, the ones who will pay the full price are the Lebanese government, and all of Lebanon.”
He emphasized that Israel has no territorial claims toward Lebanon, “but we will not be willing for the Lebanese territory to now resume everything that has been going on for many years, of firing at Israel.”
The escalation follows rocket fire toward Israel launched from Lebanon early Monday by Hezbollah, the group’s first such attack since a ceasefire took effect on Nov 27, 2024.