Tel Aviv, Nov 10, (dpa/GNA) – A total of 38 people were killed on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes, in different areas of Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported.
The highest toll happened in the town of the Aalamat in Jbeil, north of Beirut, where the ministry said at least 23 people were killed, after an Israeli strike hit a house there.
The ministry, said the building had housed people who had fled Israeli bombardment of Baalbek, and the surrounding villages in eastern Lebanon.
Civil defence and Red Cross personnel at the site retrieved 23 bodies, including seven children, the ministry said, adding that the toll was likely to rise, as body parts of other people have been recovered from the site for identification.
“There were more than 30 people that hail from three different families and came here searching for a safe refuge,” said Yasser, a member of the Islamic Association of Civil Defence.
Rescuers used their bare hands to dig through the rubble in search of possible survivors, a dpa witness said.
“What happened is a massacre. The people fled the Israeli bombardment and came here for safety. Warplanes followed them here,” said Ali Yassin, who was busy evacuating his wife and two children.
“I am taking my family to Beirut, to a safer place. The area is becoming too dangerous for them,” he added.
As rescuers were digging, they found a body of a child. They frantically brought blankets to cover the body from onlookers.
Two bulldozers were sent to remove heavy chunks of concrete from the rubble, as hopes faded of finding survivors under the flattened structure.
The Israeli military stated upon request, that it had attacked weapons depots of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah in Aalamat, and prior measures such as aerial reconnaissance were taken to avoid civilian casualties. The details of the attack are currently being investigated, it said.
On Saturday, 53 people were killed and 99 injured in Lebanon, the ministry said.
Since the outbreak of the armed conflict between the Israeli military and Hezbollah over a year ago, 3,189 Lebanese have been killed and 14,078 injured, the ministry said.
GNA