BEIRUT (Lebanon) (AFP/Reuters) – Lebanon's health ministry said at least 21 people died Monday in a rare Israeli strike on a northern Christian-majority village, far from Hezbollah strongholds, with DNA tests being conducted to identify body parts.
A Lebanese security official told AFP the building "housed families displaced from Lebanon's south, and was targeted shortly after a man had arrived in a car".
He requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
"The Israeli enemy strike on the village of Aito... killed in a preliminary toll 21 people and injured eight. DNA tests are being conducted to determine the identity of body parts recovered at the strike site," the ministry said, referring to a village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district.
The official National News Agency said Israel targeted a "residential apartment" in the village.
So far, Israeli strikes have mainly been concentrated in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas, where Hezbollah built its power base in a state wracked by sectarianism.
An AFP photographer at the site of the strike said it had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the village.
Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors in the wreckage while ambulances evacuated the wounded.
The Lebanese army imposed a security cordon in the area, where the strike also sparked a fire, he said.
In another strike outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds, on Saturday the health ministry reported two dead and four wounded in an Israeli strike on Deir Billa, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the town of Batroun on Lebanon's north coast.
After almost a year of cross-border fire over the Gaza war, Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah's south and east Lebanon strongholds, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs.
The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Monday expressed strong concern after several peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon came under fire amid clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
ISRAEL AT ODDS WITH UN PEACEKEEPERS
As Israel has pushed its forces through south Lebanon in an attempt to wipe out Hezbollah and its military infrastructure, tensions have increased between Israel and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL.
The UN said Israeli tanks had burst into its base on Sunday.
Netanyahu on Monday rejected accusations that Israeli troops had deliberately harmed UNIFIL peacekeepers as "completely false" and repeated a call for them to withdraw from combat zones close to the border with Israel.
He said Hezbollah uses UNIFIL positions as cover for attacks that have killed Israelis, including on Sunday, when a drone attack on a military base killed four soldiers.
"Israel has every right to defend itself against Hezbollah and will continue to do so," Netanyahu said in a statement.
He said he regretted any harm to UNIFIL personnel but added that the best way to ensure their safety was "to heed Israel's request and to temporarily get out of harm's way."
The force's spokesperson on Monday said in a video posted on X that the peacekeeping mission would stay.
"We are staying ... we are in south of Lebanon under a Security Council mandate. So it’s important to keep an international presence and to keep the UN flag in the area," Andrea Tenenti said.
The Israeli military took foreign journalists into southern Lebanon on Sunday and showed them a Hezbollah tunnel shaft that was less than 200 metres away (650 feet) from a UNIFIL position, as well as weapon stashes.
"We are actually standing in a military base of Hezbollah very close to the UN," Brigadier General Yiftach Norkin said, pointing to the shaft's trapdoor in an area covered by undergrowth and overlooked by a UN observation post.
Since announcing its ground operation near the border, the Israeli military says it has destroyed dozens of Hezbollah tunnel shafts, rocket launchers and command posts.
UNIFIL has said previous Israeli attacks limited its monitoring abilities and UN sources say they fear any violations of international law in the conflict will be impossible to monitor.
Meanwhile, the Middle East remains on high alert for Israel to retaliate against Iran for an Oct. 1 barrage of missiles launched in response to Israel's assaults on Lebanon.
On Monday, the US embassy in Lebanon strongly encouraged its citizens to leave immediately, warning that additional flights laid on by the government to help U.S. citizens leave since Sept. 27 would not continue indefinitely.
Australia warned its citizens not to travel to Israel and urged Australians there to leave the country while commercial flights remained available.