BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed, and several others were injured on Friday in an Israeli airstrike on a neighborhood inside the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, local public health authorities and media reported.
An Israeli drone fired two missiles at a building that the Palestinian joint security force previously used. According to the National News Agency (NNA), an individual had recently rented the building to operate as a kitchen for distributing food rations.
Ambulances immediately rushed to the scene and transported the wounded to hospitals in Sidon, which issued an urgent appeal for blood donations due to the severity of their injuries, NNA reported.
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee condemned in a statement Israel's renewed targeting of the Ain al-Hilweh camp, saying it constitutes a violation of Lebanese state sovereignty and a breach of international laws and conventions, particularly the rules of international humanitarian law.
The statement added that "this continued aggression represents a violation of the ceasefire agreement, threatens the fragile stability, and raises the level of tension, especially within the Palestinian camps in Lebanon."
For its part, the Israeli military said in a statement that the strike targeted a "Hamas command center from which terrorists operated in Ain al-Hilweh," adding that Hamas recently used the center to plan and prepare attacks against Israeli troops.
Hezbollah and Israel engaged in cross-border fighting following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict in October 2023.
A ceasefire agreement between the two sides has been in effect since Nov. 27, 2024. Despite the agreement, Israel has continued to carry out occasional strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are aimed at eliminating Hezbollah threats. ■
