Tuesday, 5, Nov,2024 {HMC} Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 3,000 people in the 13 months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the border, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health has said.
The ministry said late on Monday that 3,002 people were killed and 13,492 injured since the beginning of Israel’s “aggression” against Lebanon. There were 589 women and at least 185 children among the dead, it added.
While Israel claims that hundreds of Hezbollah fighters have been killed in its attacks, witnesses and independent reports from bombed communities across Lebanon attest to the high number of civilian casualties from widespread and indiscriminate Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling.
The United Nations children’s agency said last week that at least one child per day had been killed in the country over the past month.
“Since October 4 of this year, at least one child has been killed and 10 injured daily,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said.
The UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) said an average of 400-600 people from Lebanon have been arriving in Iraq every day over the past week. Most of them are Lebanese, but there has also been an uptick in the arrival of Syrians and Palestinians.
At least 28,350 refugees from Lebanon arrived in the country since the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in September, the agency said. A majority of them are being hosted in Najaf and Karbala.
Meanwhile, an estimated 472,000 people from Lebanon crossed into Syria in recent weeks, the UNHCR said on Monday.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), emergency medical services in Lebanon have reported 201 attacks over the past year, resulting in 151 deaths.
At least 212 people have been wounded in the violence, which “is hindering the rescue and relief efforts, and ultimately contributing to high death rates”, the WHO said.
In Israel, 72 people have been reported killed in Hezbollah attacks since October last year. The number includes at least 30 Israeli soldiers killed in fighting with the Lebanese armed group. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes in northern Israel.
A cessation in the fighting appears to be a long way off amid the rising number of deaths and destruction of Lebanese infrastructure and civilian property.
On Friday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of blocking any progress in the negotiations towards a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Source Al-Jaziira
