Israeli airstrike on Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon leaves several injured

BEIRUT

An Israeli airstrike targeting the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon early Tuesday left several Palestinians injured.

An Anadolu correspondent reported that an Israeli air raid struck the home of Munir Al-Maqdah, the leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement in Lebanon.

Witnesses told Anadolu that the bombardment resulted in injuries, but there was no confirmation regarding Al-Maqdah's condition.

It marked the first time that Israeli forces targeted Ain al-Hilweh since clashes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group broke out on Oct. 8 last year.

The attack comes as the Israeli army said earlier that it launched “limited, localized and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.”

On Monday evening, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon over the past 24 hours had reached 95, with 172 injured.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,057 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Several Hezbollah leaders have been killed in the assault, including Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio