Death toll from Israeli assaults on Lebanon since last Oct. 8 reaches nearly 2,000: Health minister

By Wassim Saifeddine

BEIRUT (AA) - The Lebanese health minister announced on Wednesday that the death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon has risen to 1,974, with another 9,384 injured since Oct. 8 of last year.

Firas Alabiad said at a press conference in Beirut that the Israeli onslaught has also claimed the lives of 127 children.

Israeli airstrikes have killed 40 staffers of medical and emergency teams, in addition to damaging dozens of healthcare facilities, he added.

Though Israel launched simultaneous attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, the attacks intensified after Sept. 23, Tel Aviv claimed to be targeting only Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon, but the strikes killed more than 1,100 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 41,800 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul