Four US citizens, including three children, were among the five people killed on Sunday in Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government.
Israeli forces said they had “stripped and eliminated” Hezbollah operators in the southern town of Bint jbeil, but admitted that “several non-dissolved civilians” were also killed on the strike.
“The IDF will regret harm to an individual who is not involved and will work to minimize harm as much as possible. The case is under review,” the statement said.
Among those killed were his children, father and three children, US citizens, in a statement lamenting their death, according to Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament, Nabi Beli.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Yousef Raj said the mother of an American family was in a critical state after being injured in the Israeli attack.
CNN approached the US State Department for comment.
Lebanon’s state-run NNA News reported that the drone had fired two missiles with a motorcycle and a Mercedes vehicle. In the car, my father and his children were killed. The motorcyclist, the obvious target of the strike, was also killed.
Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the attack as a “genocide” against civilians, adding that Israeli strikes constituted “a message of threats targeting those returning to the villages in the south.”
He urged the international community to condemn Israel as “in the strongest conditions for repeated violations of international resolutions and international law.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a post on Sunday in X that it was “shocked and furious about the murder of three children from the same family in a South Lebanon airstrike.”
“Attacks on children are merciless,” UNICEF added.
“Children should not pay the price for their lives and conflicts. Hostility must cease immediately to ensure protection for all children,” it said.
Israel continues to strike in Lebanon despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanese extremist group Hezbollah last November.
Lebanese President Joseph Orn, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said Israel is “sticking to the ongoing violation of the most important international resolution of the ceasefire agreement.”
“From New York, we will appeal to the international community studying in the UN Hall of Fame and make every effort to end the violation of the international resolution,” Aoun said in a statement Sunday. “There is no peace to the blood of our children,” he added.
Sunday’s attack comes after earlier remarks at a cabinet meeting on Israel’s “Victory in Lebanon over Hezbollah” that allowed the Israeli Prime Minister to negotiate peace with his north neighbour, Syria.
Caitlin Danaher of CNN contributed to this report.
