At least 13 killed in drone strike at Ein el-Hilweh
At least 13 people were killed and four wounded when a drone struck a car in the parking area of a mosque inside the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Sidon in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said. Ambulances were reported transporting additional wounded to nearby hospitals.
Disputed claims over the target
Israel said the strike targeted members of the Palestinian armed group Hamas who were allegedly operating a training compound inside the camp. The Israeli military's Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said the action was part of efforts to prevent threats along Israel's northern border.
Avichay Adraee: "When we say we will not tolerate any threat on our northern border, this means all terrorist groups operating in the region. We will continue to act forcefully against Hamas's attempts to establish a foothold in Lebanon and eliminate its elements that threaten our security."
Hamas rejected the claim as a "fabrication," saying it does not maintain training facilities inside Lebanon's refugee camps and condemning the strike as an assault on Palestinians and Lebanon's sovereignty.
Wider context and recent violence
Earlier the same day, Lebanese authorities reported that separate strikes on vehicles in southern Lebanon killed two people. Since October 2023, when Israel launched a campaign in Gaza following a cross-border attack, Israeli forces have carried out strikes in Lebanon that have killed members of Palestinian factions, including Hamas officials.
Reported tallies for the Gaza conflict list tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and hundreds of thousands wounded; those figures are frequently updated and vary by source. The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel left more than 1,100 people dead and over 200 taken captive.
A wider confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah began a day after the October 2023 escalation, with exchanges of rockets, shelling and air strikes. That broader hostilities intensified through 2024 and caused significant casualties in Lebanon and Israel before a United States-brokered ceasefire took effect in late November 2024.
Since the ceasefire, Lebanon's Health Ministry reports more than 270 people killed and roughly 850 wounded by Israeli military actions. Political tensions remain high: some Lebanese officials and analysts say Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire terms, while others point to complex security dynamics involving multiple armed groups along the border.
Karim Emile Bitar, Lebanese political analyst: "There are daily violations of the ceasefire by Israel in Lebanon, and it would be unfair at this stage to pin the blame on the Lebanese government. The government went above and beyond what was required and even asked the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah."
Bitar also noted that under the ceasefire terms signed on November 27, 2024, Israel was meant to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon by a January 26 deadline that was not met, according to critics of Israel's implementation of the agreement.
What to watch next
Officials on all sides are likely to issue further statements as investigations and hospital reports continue. The incident adds to mounting concerns about renewed escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border and its impact on civilian populations in the region.
