By Elham Asaad Buaras
LONDON, (The Muslim News): At least nine people were killed on Sunday in Israeli strikes across Lebanon and Gaza, while Iran warned Britain and France that deploying naval forces near the Strait of Hormuz would trigger a “decisive and immediate response.”
In southern Lebanon, six people — including two paramedics — were killed in Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling across the districts of Tyre, Bint Jbeil, Marjeyoun and Nabatieh, according to Lebanese media reports.
Two paramedics were killed and five others wounded after Israeli shelling struck two Islamic Health Authority points in the towns of Qalawiya and Tibnin in the Bint Jbeil district.
In the Jezzine district, one person was killed and another injured in a drone strike near the town of Qatrani.
An Israeli airstrike targeting a motorcycle on a road between Qlaileh and Deir Qanoun in the Tyre district killed two Syrian nationals and wounded 13 others, including six children and two women.
Others were injured in a separate Israeli drone strike on the town of Dabaal in Tyre.
Israeli artillery later targeted areas around a power station supplying towns in southern Lebanon as bombardment intensified across the Nabatieh region.
Lebanon’s news agency NNA reported that at least four shells landed near the electricity facility around Kfar Remman roundabout. Shelling also struck Kfarjouz, Habboush, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Meifadoun and areas near an orphanage in Choukine.
Airstrikes were also reported in Zawtar al-Gharbiya and Kfarsir, while a strike in Nabatieh city’s Saray neighbourhood destroyed a house and caused extensive damage.
The attacks came despite a ceasefire that took effect on April 17 and was later extended until mid-May.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks since early March have killed more than 2,700 people and displaced over one million.
Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Gaza
In Gaza, at least three Palestinians, including the head of the Khan Younis police investigations unit, were killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, according to local authorities and medical sources.
The General Directorate of Police in Gaza said Wissam Fayez Abdel Hadi and Sergeant Fadi Abdul-Maati Heikal were killed after an Israeli airstrike hit their vehicle in the Al-Amal neighbourhood west of Khan Younis.
Another Palestinian was killed and two others injured after an Israeli drone struck civilians in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
According to local reports, the strikes occurred outside areas where Israeli forces are deployed under the terms of the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
In Gaza City, two fishermen were injured after Israeli naval vessels shelled the coastline and opened machine-gun fire, according to local sources.
Israeli forces also carried out demolition operations targeting residential buildings east of Gaza City, while shelling was reported in the town of Al-Qarara north of Khan Younis.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said around 850 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,400 wounded since the ceasefire came into effect due to continued Israeli strikes and shelling.
Separately, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Israeli prison forces conducted at least 10 raids on women prisoners’ sections at Damon Prison during March and April.
The organisation said the raids involved beatings, prisoners being forced to lie on the ground and handcuffed behind their backs.
According to testimonies from recently released detainees, prison guards assaulted prisoners, leaving several with bruises.
The group said most of the 88 Palestinian women prisoners held by Israel are detained in Damon Prison, including two girls and three pregnant women arrested over allegations of “incitement”.
It also said solitary confinement had increased since October 2023, with at least six women placed in isolation, some for more than two weeks.
The organisation said overcrowding had worsened, with more than 10 prisoners held in some cells, forcing detainees to sleep on the floor.
“Starvation policies have become one of the most recurring forms of abuse,” the statement said, adding that one prisoner reportedly lost 30 kilograms during detention.
The group also alleged that strip searches had become routine during prison transfers and arrivals at Damon Prison.
More than 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and Israeli rights groups.
US rejects Iran’s response to Trump’s proposals for ending war
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to the latest American proposal aimed at ending the war between the two countries.
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The statement came hours after Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Tehran had sent its response through Pakistani mediators.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the war with Iran “is not over”.
“The enrichment facilities must be dismantled and the highly enriched uranium removed,” Netanyahu told CBS News.
He said the objectives of the US-Israeli campaign included dismantling enrichment sites, halting ballistic missile production and “neutralising Iran’s proxies in the region”.
Iran warns UK and France’s deployment of naval forces near Strait of Hormuz would trigger “decisive response”
Iran warned that the deployment of French and British naval forces near the Strait of Hormuz would trigger an immediate response.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi criticised reported plans by France and Britain to send naval assets to the region, including the aircraft carrier French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
“The presence of French and British ships, or those of any other country potentially coordinating with America’s unlawful actions in the Strait of Hormuz, will be met with a decisive and immediate response from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said in a post on X.
The Muslim News asked about the proposed deployment of UK and French warships to the Strait of Hormuz, Spokesman for the PM Keir Starmer said, “HMS Dragon will be deployed to the region, ensuring that the UK can contribute to a future multinational mission. Our position has always been that this is purely defensive and aimed at restoring confidence for commercial shipping along this vital trade route, and that as I say, we have a meeting with international partners tomorrow, and that meeting is expected to be used to discuss and outline military contributions to the defensive mission to reopen and secure the Strait of Hormuz when conditions permit.”
[Photo: The Israeli army, on Saturday, has carried out “a horrific massacre” in Siksakiyeh (South Lebanon) wiping out an entire civilian family — the family of Hani Ghalib Fahs from the town of Jibshit (South) — after they were displaced in search of safety.
Three generations were extinguished in a single strike: a grandmother, her son, and her grandsons. [Photo distributed by family of Hani Ghalib Fahs]
