UPDATE - Death toll in Lebanon from explosions of wireless communication devices rises to 20

REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, ADDS DEATH TOLL, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Naim Berjawi

BEIRUT (AA) - The death toll in Lebanon from the explosions of ICOM wireless communication devices Wednesday has risen to 20, with more than 450 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The latest toll comes after 12 people were killed Tuesday and around 2,800 others injured, 300 of them critically, in a similar attack involving pagers primarily used by the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The combined death toll from the explosions Tuesday and Wednesday has reached 32, with more than 3,250 injured.

The Lebanese Ministry of Communications also announced that the ICOM devices involved in Wednesday's explosions were unlicensed and had not been approved by security agencies.

"The ICOM V82 devices had not been licensed by the ministry, as licensing requires approval from security agencies," it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki has tasked security agencies with collecting all the security and technical data related to the explosions.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out the explosions, with Hezbollah vowing severe retaliation.

While Israel has remained silent, American media outlets including The New York Times and CNN reported that Israel planted explosive material on the batteries inside the pagers and other electronic devices before they reached Lebanon and then remotely detonated them.

Pagers -- small, portable wireless communication devices -- are used by civilians, health care workers and others for communication within organizations or groups in Lebanon. They operate with rechargeable batteries and receive text messages, calls and audio-visual signals.

Although Israel has remained silent on the blasts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office distanced itself from a deleted post by Topaz Luk, a former top aide and spokesperson for Netanyahu, on the X platform, where he had hinted at Israeli responsibility for the attacks.

The new wave of explosions came amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel against the backdrop of a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul