Lebanon says 19 people killed in Israeli airstrikes

2026-05-20 07:53:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 19 people in southern Lebanon, the country's health ministry said.

Ten of them, including three children and three women, were killed in a single attack that hit a house in the town of Deir Qanoun, the ministry said.

Lebanon was drawn into the war on March 2, when the Iranian-backed Shiite Islamist armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.

The latest deaths came less than a week after the US said Lebanon and Israel had agreed to extend the ceasefire by 45 days, with both sides set to resume talks in early June.

Despite the extension, both Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire, particularly in southern Lebanon.

Israel says it is targeting the armed group Hezbollah, but civilians, including women and children, have often been killed. Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones at communities in northern Israel and against Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military announced that another soldier was killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.

In a statement, Lebanon's health ministry said that in addition to the deaths in Deir Qanoun, three people were injured, including a young girl.

Nine other people were killed and 29 wounded in Israeli airstrikes in the Nabatieh and Tyre districts, the ministry said.

The BBC has contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

The number of people killed in the country by Israeli strikes during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since March has exceeded 3,000, the health ministry said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters “clashed… with an Israeli enemy army force that attempted to advance towards the vicinity of the town square of Haddatha,” Agence France-Presse reported.

The Iran-backed group said its fighters destroyed an Israeli tank.

Hezbollah also said it attacked Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, as well as Iron Dome air defense platforms near the border in northern Israel, AFP reported.

The US-brokered ceasefire agreement allows Israel to carry out attacks that it says are aimed at countering Hezbollah's military activity.

Israeli ground forces continue to occupy a strip of territory extending approximately 10 km from the Lebanese border, which they occupied during the conflict.