An Israeli strike targeted a compound on Tuesday in the Ain al-Helweh camp in the city of Saida. The Ministry of Health announced a preliminary toll of 13 deaths and four injuries.
The MOPH added that "ambulances are still transporting more wounded to nearby hospitals."
Several schools in Sidon have announced their closure tomorrow following the airstrike.
The Israeli Army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said the strike targeted individuals “operating in a training compound belonging to Hamas, in the Ain al-Helweh area in south Lebanon.” According to him, “Hamas members were using this targeted compound to train and prepare in order to plan and carry out terrorist operations against the State of Israel.”
In the first reaction to the raid inside the Ain al-Helweh camp, Hamas sources denied the Israeli claims, saying that “Israel targeted an enclosed ‘mini-football’ field known to the residents of the Ain al-Helweh camp and which is always crowded at this time, and the Israeli claims are incorrect.”
The same source added that “no prominent Hamas figure was targeted; rather, those who were martyred were residents of the camp.”
Earlier on Tuesday, two people were killed in targeted Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. One raid hit a vehicle in Bint Jbeil, killing Ali Chaaito, an employee of the Bint Jbeil Union of Municipalities. Another strike targeted a car in Blida (Marjayoun district), killing Haitham el-Masri.
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