Kfar Rumman, Lebanon, Sept. 7 — Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Rumman killed at least 11 people early Monday, including two children and two medics, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, in an attack that came without the evacuation warning Israel’s military typically issues before such operations.
Israeli warplanes struck a residential building just after midnight, killing nine people, among them the two children. A separate drone strike hit a civilian vehicle carrying two medical workers, killing both. Five other people were wounded in the strikes.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters over the strikes, including whether it was aware that medics and children were present at the locations, or why no evacuation warning was issued beforehand. A separate evacuation warning issued by an Israeli military spokesperson around 2 a.m. covered a different southern Lebanese town over alleged Hezbollah facilities, and did not appear to relate to the strikes on Kfar Rumman.
The attack is the latest in a sharp escalation of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon despite a June ceasefire meant to end fighting with Hezbollah. Israel launched its current offensive on March 2 after Hezbollah rocket fire, and strikes since then have killed more than 4,300 people, according to Reuters. Even after the ceasefire, Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon have continued razing villages inside a self-declared security zone and carrying out strikes both within and beyond it, most without warning to residents.