August 17, 2024 / 7:46 AM EDT
/ AP
Gaza gaza-on-last-day-including-plans-for-another-hostage-swap/” title=”Mediators Aim to Prolong Ceasefire in Gaza on Last Day, Including Plans for Another Hostage Swap”>cease-fire negotiations resume
Gaza cease-fire negotiations resume, Israeli settlers attack village in West Bank
03:44
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon early Saturday killed at least 10 Syrian nationals, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The strike on Wadi al-Kfour in Nabatieh province is among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah militant group and Israeli military started trading strikes on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks once a cease-fire is reached in the Gaza Strip.
Among the dead were a woman and her two children, the ministry said. Five others were wounded, two of whom were in critical condition.
Men inspect an industrial area destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Wadi al-Kfour, Nabatieh province, south Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024.
Mohammad Zaatari / AP
An Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said the strike in the southern province targeted a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah.
Mohammad Shoaib, who runs a slaughterhouse in Wadi al-Kfour, said the area struck was an “industrial and civilian area” that contained factories producing bricks, metal, and aluminum, as well as a dairy farm.
A man reacts at an industrial area destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Wadi al-Kfour, Nabatieh province, south Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024.
Mohammad Zaatari / AP
The uncle of three of the people killed in the strike said they were factory workers who were in their housing accommodation when they were hit. He denied that there were weapons at the facility.
“There was nothing at all like that,” Hussein Shahoud said. “There was metal for construction, for building, for all kinds of purposes.”
Hezbollah later announced it had fired a volley of rockets at the community of Ayelet HaShahar, near Safad in northern Israel in retaliation for the strike. The statement said that all 10 victims in Lebanon were civilians. Hezbollah typically issues death notices when its members are killed.
A man removes documents from a damaged truck at an industrial area destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Wadi al-Kfour, Nabatieh province, south Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024.
Mohammad Zaatari / AP
The Israeli army said 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, some of which fell in open areas. No injuries were reported, but the strikes ignited multiple fires, it said. Earlier Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were injured, one seriously, by a strike coming from Lebanon that hit the area of Misgav Am.
The Lebanese government and international governments have scrambled for weeks to put an end to the monthslong clashes, with the region on a knife edge since July.
An Israeli strike last month in southern Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top commander, whom Israel accused of leading a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths.