By Middle East Correspondent
LONDON, (The Muslim News): At least 29 civilians, including four members of a family, were killed and 42 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on several towns in southern Lebanon on Thursday despite a temporary ceasefire, health authorities and media reported.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that three people were killed and seven wounded in a strike on the town of Jibchit that destroyed a residential building. In the nearby town of Toul, four people were killed and six others injured in a similar strike that levelled another home. Two more people were killed in Harouf when an Israeli aircraft hit a house, the agency said.
The Health Ministry confirmed nine fatalities from the three initial attacks, including five women and two children, and said 23 people were wounded, among them seven women and six children.
Subsequent strikes pushed the toll higher. A separate attack on Jibchit killed a family of four when their home was destroyed. In Toul, another strike killed one person, wounded another and left a girl critically injured. Israeli fighter jets bombed the town of Zebdine, leaving at least six people dead, NNA said. In the town of Shaabiyeh in the Tyre district, two more people were killed and one wounded, NNA reported.
Israeli warplanes also struck Sultaniyeh, while artillery fire hit the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiya and Mifadoun.
Two more people were killed and one injured in Israeli airstrike on Qana in Tyre.
Deputy mayor of Jannata, Ahmed al-Husseini, killed in separate strike between Maaroub and Hmairi of Tyre.
A father and his daughter were also killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Alhenniya, the same source said.
The Lebanese army said a soldier and family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the town of Kfarreman in Nabatieh.
A tally by Anadolu Agency showed that the Israeli army carried out 73 airstrikes and artillery shelling in Lebanon on Thursday.
The escalation comes despite a ceasefire that began on April 17 and was later extended until May 17. Lebanese officials say Israel has continued near-daily airstrikes and demolitions of homes in the south. Israel continues to occupy Lebanese land.
Since March 2, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 2,586 people and injured 8,020 others, according to the Health Ministry, while more than 1.6 million people—around a fifth of the population—have been displaced.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for international pressure on Israel to comply with international law and halt attacks on civilians, medical personnel and aid workers.
Speaking after a meeting with a delegation from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, he said violations had continued despite the ceasefire, with homes and places of worship being destroyed and civilian casualties rising.
Separately, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said the future of the Gulf region would be “without US presence,” describing foreign powers as a source of instability.
In a statement marking Persian Gulf National Day, he said new legal and management frameworks for the Strait of Hormuz would enhance regional stability and economic cooperation, adding that countries in the region share a common destiny and external actors have no role in its future.
In North America, Canada denied entry to members of an Iranian football delegation travelling to a FIFA conference in Vancouver, according to media reports. Iranian officials said they were turned away upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, calling the move an insult. Canada’s foreign minister said the refusal may have been unintentional, while an official from the immigration ministry reiterated that individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are inadmissible under Canadian policy.
Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in Gaza
In Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a Palestinian paramedic in a strike, claiming he posed an immediate threat, without providing evidence. Medical sources said three Palestinians were killed and 10 injured in separate Israeli attacks on Thursday, including an airstrike on a cart in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district.
Additional incidents included drone strikes in Shujaiya and Deir al-Balah that wounded several civilians, as well as naval fire that injured a fisherman off Rafah. Artillery shelling was also reported near the Bureij refugee camp, with no casualties.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said Israel had committed 377 ceasefire violations in April, killing 111 people and injuring 376, while restricting humanitarian aid. It said only about a quarter of the agreed number of aid trucks had entered the enclave.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said the overall number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October 2023 had reached 72,601, with 172,419 people injured. Since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, at least 824 people have been killed and 2,316 wounded, it added.
The conflict, which began in October 2023, has devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure, with the United Nations estimating reconstruction costs at around $70 billion.
[Photo: Relatives of the Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on a vehicle, mourn as the bodies are brought to Al-Shifa Hospital for funeral procedures in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on April 30, 2026. Photojournalist: Ali Jadallah/AA]
