“Israeli” Strike on South Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Refugee Camp Martyrs 15, Mostly Children

By Staff, Agencies

At least fifteen people were martyred on Tuesday when “Israeli” warplanes struck the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest Palestinian camp in southern Lebanon. Dozens more were transferred to hospitals in the city of Sidon, Lebanon’s National News Agency [NNA] reported.

The “Israeli” military claimed the attack targeted alleged Hamas members inside the camp. Hamas firmly rejected the accusation, stressing that the victims were overwhelmingly children.

Ayman Shanaa, a Hamas official, said, “The majority of the martyrs of the Ain Al-Hilweh camp massacre, which was committed by the occupation, were children under the age of 18 who were inside a sports field and club.”

According to NNA, at least three missiles struck “a center” inside the densely populated camp.

Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan condemned the assault as “a continuation of the genocide that the Palestinian nation is being subjected to,” adding that “the occupying entity continues its pre-planned crimes against the Palestinian people without any international deterrent.”

The massacre sparked immediate anger among camp residents, who flooded the streets in protest. Palestinian factions in Sidon declared a general strike in mourning, noting that the attack came only hours after “Israeli” prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war “on all fronts.”

The strike forms part of the “Israeli” military’s daily violations of a ceasefire agreement intended to end its genocidal war on Gaza, ongoing since October 2023 and now responsible for more than 69,000 Palestinian deaths, most of them women and children.

“Israel” has simultaneously continued breaching a separate ceasefire deal with Lebanon. That agreement, reached last year, was supposed to halt “Israel’s” intensified attacks on Lebanon, which had already martyred more than 4,000 people.