Summary

Supported by Lebanese Mourn Eight Members of One Family Killed in Israeli Strike Israel has escalated attacks on Lebanon since Thursday, further unraveling a truce in its war with Hezbollah. Among those killed on Saturday was a 6-month-old infant, relatives said. Hundreds of people gathered Sunday to mourn at least eight members of one displaced Lebanese family who were killed a day earlier when an Israeli airstrike hit the building where they were sheltering with no advance warning. The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for several towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Saturday, but the town of Saksakiyeh, where the family was killed, was not among them. The Israeli military said late Saturday that it had targeted militants from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, who were operating from a building used for military purposes in the area, but provided no further details. The military was aware of reports of civilian casualties in the targeted structure, and this was under review, the statement added. In the coastal city of Sidon on Sunday, mourners dressed in black gathered at a cemetery to pray for the dead family. Among those killed were a married couple, three of their children, a 6-month-old grandchild, the father’s brother and a grandmother, according to relatives there. Some wept and clung to the bodies, which were draped in green cloth and scattered with flowers. They kissed and embraced them before emergency workers took the bodies away for burial in their hometown, Jibchit, which had itself come under attack earlier on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. “They are gone. They are all gone,” some relatives cried out as the ambulances began leaving. A truce reached about a month ago paused the on-again-off-again Israeli war with Hezbollah. Since then, the two sides have traded attacks almost daily. A new escalation over the last few days heightened fears that the truce is in danger of completely unraveling.