By Middle East Correspondent
LONDON, (The Muslim News): Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed at least 27 civilians and injured 105 others over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Thursday, as Israel tries to ethnically cleanse southern Lebanon.
The ministry said the overall death toll since March 2 has risen to 1,345, with 4,040 people injured.
Israeli warplanes carried out extensive airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday, targeting at least 44 towns, including Bint Jbeil, Khiam, Al-Mansouri and Kfardounin.
Lebanese officials reported multiple casualties in separate strikes. Four people were killed and three others injured in Ramadiyeh in the Tyre district, while three people died when a two-storey building was struck in Kfarsir, according to the state-run National News Agency.
In Zebdine, a municipal council member and two family members were killed when a four-storey building was hit. Elsewhere, six people were injured, three critically, in an airstrike on a residential complex in Kfar.
Israel has continued its air campaign and ground operations in southern Lebanon since November 2025. Lebanese authorities say the offensive has displaced large numbers of civilians and caused widespread destruction.
Rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel in retaliation also continued on Thursday. Israeli media reported that more than 30 rockets were launched towards the Galilee region within a short period, with around 50 fired since midnight. Two people sustained minor injuries and a building was damaged in Kiryat Shmona, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
Hezbollah said it targeted the illegal settlements of Avivim, Metula and Kiryat Shmona with successive rocket barrages. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that around 80 rockets had been detected amid ongoing air raid sirens.
The escalation has triggered a worsening humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said more than one million people have been displaced in the past month, with roughly one in five people in the country affected.
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said the situation is “deepening day by day,” citing continued displacement driven by evacuation orders and ongoing strikes. More than 130,000 people are currently sheltering in over 600 collective centres, many in overcrowded conditions with limited facilities.
“The conflict intensifies and escalates and it does not stop,” Baloch said, adding that both Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees are being affected and, in some cases, forced to flee the country.
Separately, regional tensions involving Iran escalated further following reported strikes on key civilian infrastructure and facilities by US-Israel strikes. US-Israeli strikes are targeting Iran’s civilian airports, fuel depots, hospitals, sports facilities, pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, universities and schools.
Iranian officials said airstrikes damaged the Pasteur Institute in Tehran, a major medical research centre. President Masoud Pezeshkian called on international medical organisations to respond, describing the attack as a “crime against humanity.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the strike, calling it “heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous,” and said the institute was among the country’s most important public health institutions.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted an Amazon cloud computing facility in Bahrain in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks. The claim followed a report by the Financial Times that the facility had been damaged. The IRGC also warned of potential attacks on additional US companies it accuses of involvement in operations against Iran.
US President Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran were likely, urging Tehran to reach an agreement. “It is time for Iran to make a deal before it is too late,” he said on social media.
Iranian media reported that a key civilian bridge in the northern city of Karaj had been struck and published a list of regional infrastructure that could be targeted in response, signalling the risk of further escalation.
Meanwhile, the US Navy said the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford had departed Split, Croatia, after completing repairs and resupply. The carrier had previously been operating in the Red Sea and could rejoin operations in the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently deployed in the Arabian Sea, while the USS George H.W. Bush is en route to the region.
In a separate development, US Central Command denied Iranian claims that a US fighter jet had been shot down over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, stating that all aircraft were accounted for and dismissing the reports as false. However, videos published by IRGC shows US fighter plane being shot down and pilots parachuting.
In addition UK continues to attack Iranian missiles and drones in support of the US-Israel illegal attacks. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, RAF Regiment gunners, operating in a high threat area, successfully downed multiple Iranian drones overnight. UK Typhoons and F-35 jets, together with Wildcat helicopters, have continued their defensive missions over Cyprus, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain overnight.
[Photo: Significant sections of the B1 Bridge are seen destroyed after an airstrike attributed to the United States and Israel targeted the site near Tehran, in Karaj, Iran, on April 03, 2026. Photographer: Fatemeh Bahrami/AA]
