An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army patrol accompanying medical teams killed five people, including three paramedics, in the southern town of Majdal Zoun on Tuesday, as a fragile ceasefire continued to unravel with mounting civilian casualties and infrastructure destruction. The attack occurred while Civil Defense medical teams and bulldozers were conducting a rescue operation at the site of a previous Israeli strike, according to the Lebanese army and Civil Defense, with some responders trapped under rubble by the second strike.
Pattern of Attacks on Emergency Workers
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike, saying it was part of a pattern of Israeli attacks on rescue and emergency workers in violation of international law. The Western-backed Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines during the recent rounds of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, although dozens of its soldiers have been killed. Lebanon's Health Ministry later raised the death toll of the Israel-Hezbollah war to 2,534 and said 7,863 had been wounded since the war broke out on March 2. The war has displaced more than 1 million people and caused destruction worth billions of dollars.
Israeli airstrikes also hit the villages of Chakra, Tebnine and Kafra in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, and a drone strike hit a motorcycle in the village of Mansouri, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. There was no immediate information about possible casualties. The strike came as Israel's military asked residents of 16 southern villages to evacuate, saying Hezbollah is using the communities to launch attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
Massive Tunnel Detonation Registers as Seismic Event
Israeli forces said they detonated two kilometers (1.25 miles) of tunnels in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, while Israeli defense officials said the tunnels were 80 feet underground and were built with Iranian guidance and funding. The military detonated a large explosion late Tuesday in Qantara, and Israel's Geological Survey said the blast was so powerful it registered as a "seismic event." The Israeli military said the network included two large tunnels, one about 800 meters long and the other 1.2 kilometers long, and that the tunnels were equipped with sleeping rooms, toilets, kitchen facilities and launchers aimed at Israel. An Israeli military official said the network included large rooms where over 100 Hezbollah fighters could gather at once and that it ran underneath and alongside a mosque, school and soccer field. The town was said to be roughly 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Israeli border.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army had been instructed to destroy any Hezbollah infrastructure it finds in southern Lebanon "just like in Gaza." Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu said, "we are not done yet" after destroying the Hezbollah tunnels in southern Lebanon, and said, "I gave instructions a few weeks ago for a special project to eliminate the drone threats. It will take time — but we will blow that up too."
Sovereignty and International Law Debates
Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said Lebanon would not have sovereignty "as long as Hezbollah controls the territory" and said, "Lebanon will not be able to talk about sovereignty as long as Hezbollah continues to fire on Israeli civilians and operate without interference." Danon said that if the U.N. Security Council wants to help Lebanon, it should ask the government how many Hezbollah weapons it has seized, "which tunnels have been destroyed and what is being done to stop arms smuggling from Iran." He said, "International support for Lebanon must depend on results on the ground and not more empty statements."
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Israel had "no territorial ambitions" in Lebanon and that the Israeli military-controlled "buffer zone" stretching 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Lebanon was necessary to protect residents in Israel's north. Saar said, "Hezbollah has transformed the entire front line of southern Lebanon into a network of terrorist infrastructure, and this threat has not been properly addressed by the Lebanese government." He also said Israel's first direct negotiations with Lebanon in decades were important and could be "an opening to a different, better future," but that the Lebanese government must take practical steps to restore its sovereignty against de facto Iranian control in its territory.
The Israeli military said it had killed an Israeli military contractor in southern Lebanon. A brief statement by the Israeli army said the civilian employee of an engineering company was working with the military on projects in southern Lebanon. It said his family had been notified but did not offer details on how he was killed Tuesday. A shaky temporary ceasefire is in effect in Lebanon, but both sides accuse each other of violating the agreement.
Why This Matters:
The killing of medical personnel during rescue operations raises serious questions about compliance with international humanitarian law, which mandates protection for emergency responders. With over 2,500 killed, nearly 8,000 wounded, and more than 1 million displaced in less than 2 months of conflict, the human toll continues to mount as ceasefire violations persist. The billions of dollars in destruction compounds Lebanon's existing economic crisis, threatening the country's fragile recovery and placing additional strain on public services and infrastructure. The targeting of rescue workers undermines the capacity of civilian institutions to respond to emergencies, potentially deterring future humanitarian operations and leaving vulnerable populations without critical assistance during ongoing hostilities.