Israel Escalates Lebanon Offensive Despite Ceasefire, 31 Killed

Israeli forces carried out one of their heaviest nights of bombardment in Lebanon since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in mid-April, killing at least 31 people including four children and three women, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Forty others were wounded.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the escalation, saying Israel was "pressing the pedal even harder" against Hezbollah and would deal the Iran-backed group "a crushing blow." Speaking at a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said the Israel Defence Forces were operating with large ground forces and seizing dominant terrain, while reinforcing a security buffer zone to protect communities in northern Israel.

The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites — including weapons storage facilities, command centres and observation posts — across southern and eastern Lebanon overnight. Israeli troops also began operating beyond the self-declared "Yellow Line," which runs roughly ten kilometres inside Lebanese territory, with Hezbollah reporting it had repelled an Israeli advance towards the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, which overlooks Nabatieh city.

The deadliest single strike killed 14 people in Burj al-Shamali near Tyre. In the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara, eleven people were pulled from the rubble, among them two girls and a woman, after overnight strikes destroyed several homes.

A seven-year-old boy named Mohammed was rescued alive after spending hours trapped, his father and two sisters killed in the same strike. Further attacks hit near Qaraoun lake and Lebanon's largest dam on the Litani river, prompting the Litani River Authority to warn that any targeting of the dam could have "catastrophic consequences" for downstream communities.

Ceasefire in Name Only

The UN secretary general's spokesperson said that on Monday alone, UN peacekeepers recorded 91 Israeli airspace violations — the highest single-day figure since the cessation of hostilities began — along with 399 firing incidents attributed to Israeli forces and 11 projectile trajectories attributed to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for drone and rocket attacks on Israeli barracks in northern Israel, saying it was responding to Israeli ceasefire violations. The Israeli military said it intercepted several explosive drones launched from Lebanon. A projectile launched from Lebanon early Wednesday landed in an open area in northern Israel with no reported injuries.

Netanyahu's order to escalate came after an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon on Sunday — the 23rd military fatality since the conflict with Hezbollah began on 2 March, alongside one civilian contractor. Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,185 people over the same period.

The intensification of fighting in Lebanon comes at a particularly sensitive moment, with broader US-Iran peace negotiations still unresolved and any comprehensive deal likely to hinge on quieting all fronts, including Lebanon.