TRANSCRIPT
Lebanon’s health ministry says five people, among them three children, were killed in the town of Bint Jbeil after an Israeli drone hit a motorcycle and a vehicle.
Two others were wounded.
The Lebanese Parliament's Speaker, Nabih Berri, has confirmed that a father and his three children were among the dead, and that they held U-S citizenship.
The mother survived with injuries.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strike on social media, writing on X:
"What happened is a deliberate crime against civilians and a message of intimidation aimed at our people returning to their villages in the south. The international community must condemn Israel in the strongest terms for its repeated violations of international resolutions and international law. The states sponsoring the ceasefire agreement must exert the utmost pressure on Israel to halt its aggression immediately, withdraw from the occupied Lebanese territories, and release the prisoners."
The Israeli military later acknowledged carrying out the strike, saying its intended target was a Hezbollah member.
In its words: "As a result of the strike, several uninvolved civilians were killed."
Local authorities in Lebanon reacted angrily.
The municipality of Aitaroun described the attack as a criminal assault on innocent civilians and a blatant violation of sovereignty.
It called for urgent action by the Lebanese state and the international community to hold Israel accountable.
The incident comes despite a US-brokered ceasefire with Hezbollah, signed last November.
Lebanon’s army has reported thousands of Israeli violations since then, with strikes continuing across the south.
And while southern Lebanon reels from this latest tragedy, Gaza has also suffered another night of bombardment.
In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed four members of the same family.
Their grandfather, Mosllam Mohammed Al-Haddad, describes the horror.
“At 1am I was on the fifth floor, and they were on the third floor. We heard an explosion and loud banging, so we came down and found this situation. The mother, the boy, the girl, and the baby in her womb—we found them all gone. The husband was in critical condition; we took him to the hospital, and his leg has been amputated.”
Israel this week stepped up its demolition campaign in Gaza, targeting high-rise buildings alongside a ground assault.
Despite the death and destruction, Mr Al-Haddad says he is staying put.
"And I insisted swearing by Almighty God, swearing a hundred times—that we will not leave to the south. We will stay here; either we die, or we live in this land (Gaza).”
Health officials in Gaza say more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began nearly two years ago.
In Israel, families of hostages are growing increasingly desperate, staging dramatic protests ahead of the Jewish New Year.
In Tel Aviv, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan remains in Hamas captivity, overturned a symbolic holiday table while shouting for help.
She was joined by former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky who told supporters:
“We are fighting for you, and we won’t give up until all of you come back to us.”
Ms Zangauker then addressed the crowd, talking about the emptiness of the holiday season.
“We have no holiday. Our families are not whole as long as there are 48 hostages, living and fallen, in captivity. End the war, bring them all back to us.”
The protest followed a rally in Jerusalem where thousands marched to demand action.
Among them was Noam Peri, whose father was killed in captivity.
"My father was killed in a Khan Younis tunnel when the IDF attacked the area, then Hamas terrorists killed them, him and the other five hostages that were with him, so I know from my personal, unfortunately, experience that now all the hostages are very much in danger."
Israel says at least 20 of the remaining 48 captives are believed to be alive.
But families insist the continuing assault on Gaza only heightens the risk to their loved ones.
