Israeli bombing of eastern Lebanon kills 11 amid evacuation alerts

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 11 people, Lebanon's health ministry said on Tuesday, as Israel's military warned residents of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh to immediately evacuate.

The strike hit the village of Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley late on Monday, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorized more intensive strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon.

The Israeli military did not comment on this particular strike, but said on Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.

In a statement, Lebanon's health ministry said on Tuesday that "yesterday's Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Mashghara in West Bekaa resulted in a preliminary toll of 11 martyrs, including two girls and a woman, and 15 wounded, including a child". Rescuers were still clearing the rubble in the town, it said.

Meanwhile, Israel issued an evacuation warning on Tuesday for residents of Nabatieh, urging them to leave ahead of planned strikes.

"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River," the military's spokesman, Avichay Adraee, posted on X. "Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, facilities or military equipment is putting their life at risk!"

The intensified attacks come three days before Lebanese and Israeli military delegations are set to meet in Washington for direct talks.

The Lebanese government hopes that the direct talks with Israel, opposed by Hezbollah, will lead to a ceasefire.

Hezbollah is attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israeli towns, and has vowed to continue fighting until Israel stops its daily airstrikes and withdraws its troops from the country.

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has claimed that it is using new fiber-optic drones that Israeli troops have struggled to intercept, hitting both Israeli troops and northern border villages.

More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, and 3,185 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the conflict, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Tuesday, health officials said.

Medics and residents said an Israeli drone fired a missile at people who came out of their homes when an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia tried to storm an area east of Maghazi camp. As well as at least five fatalities, several people were injured.

Later on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike struck a vehicle in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing two people and wounding several others, medics said.

AGENCIES-XINHUA