Israeli assault hit health centre in southern Lebanon; Hezbollah attacks have killed one man in Israeli border town.
Hezbollah has said it launched dozens of rockets at Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli border town, in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanonâs southern village of al-Habbariyeh that killed seven people.
The Israeli military and the Iran-aligned Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since October when the current conflict in Gaza started.
About 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards northern Israel on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military. Israeli emergency services said a 25-year-old factory worker in Kiryat Shmona was killed.
The Israeli armyâs attacks on al-Habbariyeh hit a paramedic centre linked to a Lebanese Sunni Muslim group. The Emergency and Relief Corps said the victims were volunteers.
Reporting from al-Habbariyeh, Al Jazeeraâs Zeina Khodr said young men were killed in the Israeli strikes that âtotally destroyedâ the emergency health centre.
âPeople here tell us that the men who were inside the building were paramedics, volunteers and university students, all in their early 20s,â Khodr said. âThey were helping the people in this border region where weâve seen daily exchanges of fire between Israel and ⌠Hezbollah.â
While the Israeli army claimed it had killed a significant operative, Khodr reported that locals said âthat is nothing but fabricated lies ⌠this was a civilian targetâ.
Hezbollah promised to avenge the attack, saying it âwill not pass without punishmentâ.
Lebanonâs Ministry of Health on Wednesday condemned the air strike and said âthese unacceptable attacks violate international laws and norms, especially the Geneva Convention, which stresses the neutrality of health centres and health workersâ.
Khodr reported: âThis is not the first time a health centre has been hit in the ongoing confrontations along the border. Weâve seen numerous attacks against health centres especially in front-line villages and we have seen paramedics killed.â
The Israeli army claimed it struck âa military buildingâ and killed a member of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Lebanese political and armed outfit.
The target of the Israeli air strike had âpromoted plots towards Israeli territoryâ and was âeliminatedâ, the military said in a post on social media, along with âother terroristsâ who were in the building.
âThese people will tell you that Israelâs strategy from day one has been to depopulate villages close to the border,â Khodr reported.
âThey are trying to create some sort of a buffer zone, to make it difficult for civilians to live here. Nearly 100,000 people have already left. In this particular village, people are still here, but there is growing concern that it will start coming under fire,â she added.
Last month, Hezbollahâs leader Hassan Nasrallah said Israel will pay a price âin bloodâ for killing Lebanese civilians, signalling the conflict across the Lebanon-Israel border could intensify.