The Israeli army launched a bombardment on Tuesday night on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, located in the city of Sidon, killing at least 13 people, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Information from the site of the attack indicates that civil protection teams are working to rescue several people missing under the rubble. Israeli troops and their Arab spokesman, Avichay Adraee, had announced in several statements an attack in the area where they claim Hamas was hosting a training camp. In a tweet, this spokesperson said his country will attack militia members “wherever they are found.”
Lebanese media indicate that the attack occurred in a warehouse with bedrooms and offices in Ein el Helwe, one of 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon where tens of thousands of people live in buildings that grow vertically in a small space, meaning any bombing could have huge casualties.
“The army attacked terrorists operating inside a Hamas training complex in the Ein el Helwe area,” announced Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli troops in Arabic, without providing evidence to support his claims. The statement adds that militants in the area “were planning attacks against Israel” and that the bombing against them was preceded by measures aimed at limiting damage to the civilian population, such as “the use of precision munitions or aerial reconnaissance”.
The Israeli operation takes place a few hours after the Palestinian organization rejected the disarmament of Gaza requested by the resolution approved on Monday evening by the UN Security Council. “The Israeli army is working against the terrorist roots of Hamas in Lebanon,” concluded the military spokesperson: “and will continue to forcibly attack Hamas agents wherever they operate.”
