Lebanon says 13 dead in Israeli strike on Palestinian camp in south

Israel says it struck a Hamas compound on a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

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Palestinian rescue workers check the scene where an Israeli strike on Tuesday night hit the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
Palestinian rescue workers check the scene where an Israeli strike on Tuesday night hit the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
AP

Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in the country's south killed at least 13 people on Tuesday in an updated toll, as Israel said it struck a Hamas compound.

Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreed last November that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah — an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas — including two months of full-blown war.

Israel usually says it is targeting operatives or sites belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah but it has also struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon, both during the hostilities and since the ceasefire.

In an updated toll, the health ministry reported "13 dead and a number of others wounded" in the strike in the Ain al-Helweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the city of Sidon, adding that "ambulances are still transporting more wounded to nearby hospitals".

A photograph shows a banner with a portrait of Abu Obeida, a former spokesman for Hamas's armed wing who was killed in Gaza earlier this year, in an alley leading to a site targeted by an Israeli strike the previous day on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.
People look at the damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.
A first aid responder stands next to the wreckage of cars as he searches for human remains in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.
Palestinian rescue workers check the scene where an Israeli strike on Tuesday night hit the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025.
First aid responders search for human remains in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.
Graphic content / First aid responders search for human remains in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.
People inspect the damage in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees, near Sidon in southern Lebanon, on November 19, 2025.

Hamas in Lebanon

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the strike targeted a car near the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque and that "subsequently it was reported that the raid also targeted" the mosque itself and a centre of the same name.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it "struck terrorists who operated in a Hamas training compound in the Ain al-Helweh area in southern Lebanon", adding that it was "operating against Hamas's establishment in Lebanon".

Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanon said Israeli strikes on cars elsewhere in the country's south killed two people.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on those raids.

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