ISRAELI attacks have killed at least 38 people across Lebanon on Sunday, including 23 in an air attack on the Lebanese village of Almat, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
The Shia Muslim majority village of Almat in the Jbeil district is about 30km (19 miles) north of the capital Beirut and is located in a mostly Christian area.
The village is outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds of south Beirut and south and east Lebanon, which Israel has heavily bombed since late September in its war against the Iran-backed group.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Almat in the Jbeil district killed 23 people, including seven children, in an updated but not final toll,” the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It also said body parts had been recovered from the site and were being identified.
Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan noted that this is only the second time that the area has been attacked since Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah intensified.
He added that an Israeli attack on Sidon in southern Lebanon killed three paramedics later on Sunday.
“It’s very clear now that the brunt of the devastation that has taken place, either in the south or across other parts of Lebanon, is being borne by civilians,” Khan said.
The health ministry said that 53 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday and at least 99 people were injured.
Lebanese official media also reported that an Israeli attack hit a house in the eastern city of Baalbek, which was not preceded by a forced displacement order from Israeli forces.
