An Israeli drone strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 13 people and injured several others, according to Lebanese state media and government officials.
However, Israel has its own views regarding this attack. According to Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas are both attempting to reconstitute their military infrastructure inside Lebanon.
The attack—Israel’s deadliest inside Lebanon since the ceasefire that ended the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war—has revived urgent questions about why Israel launched such an operation when a truce was technically still in place.
Strike Hits Mosque Parking Lot in Ein el-Hilweh Camp.
The airstrike targeted a car parked beside a mosque within the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon.
The National News Agency reported that the blast tore through the area as ambulances rushed to evacuate the injured. Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed 13 fatalities but provided no further details.
Local Hamas fighters reportedly blocked journalists from accessing the strike site, adding to the confusion surrounding what was hit and who was targeted.
Israel Justifies Strike, Citing Imminent Threat
The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas training compound where militants were allegedly preparing an attack against Israel and its army.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) asserted that the operation was necessary and that Israel would “continue to act against Hamas wherever it operates.”
This explanation serves as Israel’s core justification for breaking the period of relative calm: Israel claims the strike was pre-emptive, aimed at preventing an imminent assault being planned from Lebanese territory.
Hamas Denies Israeli Claim, Calls Strike an Attack on Civilians
Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel of targeting a sports playground, rejecting the claim that the site served as a training facility.
The group condemned the attack as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and the ceasefire terms, sparking wider outrage among Palestinian factions and Lebanese officials.
A Pattern of Targeted Killings Since 2023
The strike fits a broader pattern. Over the past two years, Israel has carried out numerous targeted airstrikes in Lebanon, killing senior operatives from Hezbollah and Palestinian groups, including Hamas.
The most high-profile of these was the January 2, 20,24, drone strike in Beirut’s southern suburb that killed Saleh Arouri, Hamas’s deputy political chief and a founding commander of its military wing.
Several other Hamas figures have been assassinated in Lebanon since then.
Conflict Roots: From Oct 7 to the 2024 Lebanon War
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people, triggered Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza.
As the war gained intensity, Hezbollah entered the conflict the very next day, firing rockets at Israeli military positions along the border.
By late September 2024, the clashes had escalated into a full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war—Lebanon’s deadliest confrontation with Israel in decades.
- More than 4,000 people in Lebanon were killed, including hundreds of civilians.
- Israel lost 127 people, including 80 soldiers.
- Damage in Lebanon exceeded $11 billion, according to the World Bank.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended the war in late November 2024.
Why Strike Now? Israel Says Hezbollah Is Rebuilding
Although the ceasefire halted major combat, Israel has maintained that Hezbollah and Hamas are both attempting to reconstitute their military infrastructure inside Lebanon. Israeli officials argue that this rebuilding—both strategic and operational—poses a renewed threat.
Israel has therefore continued to carry out dozens of “precision security operations,” which it claims are targeted strikes against militant leadership and facilities.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry, however, reports that over 270 people have been killed and around 850 wounded by Israeli actions since the ceasefire—raising alarms that Israel’s strikes may be widening beyond strictly military targets.
The Central Question: Why Break the Ceasefire?
Israel’s stated reason:
To neutralize what it describes as active militant preparations for future attacks.
Lebanon’s counter-argument:
Israel is exploiting the ceasefire to continue targeted killings and destabilize Lebanese territory.
The deadly strike on Ein el-Hilweh deepens this debate—fueling fears that the fragile truce may be eroding, one strike at a time.
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