A Lebanese government agency says an Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 13 people and injured several others, marking the deadliest attack in Lebanon since the ceasefire that ended last year’s Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the strike—carried out by a drone—hit a vehicle parked near a mosque in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp outside the coastal city of Sidon. The Health Ministry confirmed the death toll but did not release additional information.
Hamas members in the camp blocked journalists from accessing the site, while emergency crews worked to transport the injured and the dead.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas training site used to plan attacks on Israel, adding it would continue operating against Hamas wherever the group is active. Hamas rejected this claim, stating the strike hit a recreational field rather than a training facility.
Over the past two years, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed numerous leaders from Hezbollah and Palestinian groups, including Hamas. Among those killed was Saleh Arouri, Hamas’ deputy political chief and a founder of its military wing, who died in a drone strike near Beirut on January 2, 2024. Several other Hamas figures have been targeted since.
Hamas carried out the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, triggering Israel’s massive offensive in Gaza, which the Gaza Health Ministry says resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths.
One day after the war between Israel and Hamas began, Hezbollah launched rockets at Israeli positions along the border, prompting Israeli shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon. The exchanges escalated into a full-scale war by late September 2024.
That conflict—one of several involving Hezbollah in the last 40 years—left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage, according to the World Bank. Israel reported 127 deaths, including 80 soldiers.
The war concluded in late November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the United States. Since then, Israel has conducted multiple airstrikes in Lebanon, saying Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild its military strength.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says more than 270 people have been killed and roughly 850 wounded in Israeli operations since the ceasefire.