Israeli strike on Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon leaves 13 dead

Sidon: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Tuesday night on a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in the country’s south killed at least 13 people, as Israel said it struck a Hamas compound.

Hamas denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon and called Israel’s claims “lies”.

An AFP correspondent saw firefighters putting out a blaze on the lower floor of a stricken building, as gunmen fired shots to clear crowds from the path of ambulances that were streaming into Ain al-Helweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon.

Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreed last November that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hamas ally Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.

Israel usually says it is targeting operatives or sites belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah but it has also struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported “13 dead and a number of others wounded” in the strike, adding that “ambulances are still transporting more wounded to nearby hospitals”.

The state-run National News Agency said the strike targeted a car in a parking lot near the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque and that “subsequently it was reported that the raid also targeted” the mosque itself and a centre of the same name.

The AFP correspondent did not see any damage to the mosque, while a medic said that rescue workers were removing body parts from the area.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it “struck Hamas training compound in the Ain al-Helweh area in southern Lebanon”, adding that it was “operating against Hamas’s establishment in Lebanon”.

– Hamas denial –

But Hamas, blaming Israel for a “brutal assault” on the Ain al-Helweh camp, said in a statement that “claims that the targeted location was a ‘training compound affiliated with the movement’ are pure fabrications and lies.”

“There are no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon,” it added.

The Israeli military released a video of a strike hitting a building, but Hamas claimed that “the targeted site was an open sports field frequented by the youth of the camp”, and that “those targeted were a group of young boys” on the field at the time.

In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas over the Gaza war, triggering months of exchanges.

Under heavy US pressure and fear of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s government has begun disarming Hezbollah and is seeking to disarm all non-state groups.

During a visit to Beirut in May, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas agreed with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that weapons in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps would be handed over to the Lebanese authorities.

Some Palestinian factions in Ain al-Helweh handed over weapons in September, a Palestinian official said at the time, but Hamas has not announced plans to disarm in Lebanon.

In April, Israel killed a Hamas commander in a pre-dawn strike in Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter.

Earlier Tuesday, Lebanon said Israeli strikes elsewhere in the country’s south killed two people.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on those raids.

Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations agency UNRWA.

By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps and leaves Palestinian factions to handle security.