At least 22 killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 24 hours: Ministry

At least 22 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, according to the country’s Health Ministry, despite a 45-day ceasefire extension.

The total death toll since March 2 when the fighting resumed between Israel and Hezbollah has reached 3,042, the ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday, 24 hours after reporting 3,020 deaths.

According to the country’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), at least six people have been killed since dawn.

In southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh area, an Israeli warplane levelled a home in the al-Mahfara neighbourhood of the municipality of Kfar Sir, north of the Litani River, killing four people and injuring two others, the NNA reported.

In a separate incident in the municipality of Harouf, a drone attack targeted a vehicle parked near the municipality building, killing one person and injuring a municipal council member. At least two people were injured in the vehicle, one critically, including a man preparing to distribute bread to town residents when the strike occurred.

An Israeli drone also struck a motorcycle in the municipality of Froun near the town of Bint Jbeil, killing one person, NNA added.

In the Tyre district, NNA said the army used three incendiary phosphorus bombs against farmers harvesting watermelons at the al-Mansouri junction. The bombs landed near the farmers, who fled; no injuries were reported.

Israeli forces set up a checkpoint at the Mari-Halta junction, detaining three Lebanese nationals and confiscating their phones.

Strategic depopulation

Reporting from Tyre, where many people are seeking shelter, Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr said earlier on Tuesday: “You can see the scale of the destruction here. Many are displaced by the conflict, forced to leave their homes across southern Lebanon because of relentless, daily Israeli air attacks.”

“You talk to people here, and they tell you they believe this is part of a strategy to depopulate southern Lebanon, to make the area uninhabitable,” she added. “This [renewed] conflict, which is about to enter its fourth month, continues and only escalates. The scope of these attacks is expanding.”

Later on Tuesday, the Israeli military issued a forced displacement threat to residents of 12 towns and villages across southern Lebanon, including Toura, Nabatieh At-Tahta, Habbouch, Bazouriyeh, Tayr Debba, Kfar Houneh, Ain Qana, Libbaya, Jebchit, Chehabiyeh, Burj Shemali, and Houmin al-Fawqa.