Death toll from yearlong Israeli assaults on Lebanon surpasses 2,000

By Wassim Seifeddine

BERUIT (AA) - The Lebanese Health Ministry announced Wednesday that the death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon has risen to 2,119, with another 10,019 injured since Oct. 8, 2023.

The ministry said in a statement that during the past 24 hours 36 people were killed and 150 others injured.

In a separate statement, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin stated: “During the past 24 hours, 137 airstrikes were recorded, bringing the total number of attacks since the beginning of the aggression to 9,400."

Yassin added: "990 centers have been opened to accommodate displaced people, of which 781 centers have reached their maximum capacity, with 181,700 displaced individuals registered in the shelters.”

"The ministerial emergency committee will take charge of receiving international aid and distributing it to the displaced across the provinces, through a clear and transparent mechanism,” the minister further continued.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people and injuring 3,618 others.

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 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala

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