Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the death toll in Israeli strikes Monday rose to 274, including 21 children, the bloodiest daily toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.
The toll stood at “274 dead, including 21 children and 39 women — that’s who we know about until now”, Abiad told reporters, adding “thousands of families from the targeted areas have been displaced”.
The dead also included two rescuers, with 16 other emergency workers wounded, he said, adding that “two ambulances, a fire truck, and a medical center were targeted”.
The attacks wounded 1,024 people who were treated in 27 hospitals, Abiad said.
— layal h (ليال حداد) (@layalhaddad) September 23, 2024
About 5,000 people had been wounded “in less than a week” of Israeli attacks, he said, after Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploded and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
That number accounts for about half of the overall wounded toll of “10,000 to 11,000”, he said, referring to nearly one year of cross-border clashes between the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and Israel after the eruption of the Gaza conflict.
The conflict began when Hamas attacked Israel, with Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups around the region drawn into the violence.
The Israeli military said it had struck around 800 Hezbollah targets on Monday.
“Since this morning, the IDF [military] has conducted proactive and extensive aerial strikes against Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon,” a statement said, adding that the strikes hit “approximately 800 Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon and the area of Bekaa deep inside Lebanese territory”.
