Zionist regime’s aerial assault martyr 15 at Palestinian refugee camp in S Lebanon

A large number of people were also admitted to hospitals in the city of Sidon after the attack targeted the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp there on Tuesday, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The Zionist regime’s military claimed it had targeted, what it called, members of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas at the camp.

The group, however, roundly rejected the allegation, saying most of the victims were children.

“The majority of the martyrs of the Ain al-Hilweh camp massacre, which was committed by the occupation, were children under the age of 18, who were inside a sports field and club,” Hamas official Ayman Shanaa said.

According to the NNA, the strike saw the Zionist regime’s military fire at least three missiles into “a center” inside the camp.

Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan called the aggression “continuation of the genocide that the Palestinian nation is being subjected to.”

“The occupying regime continues its pre-planned crimes against the Palestinian people without any international deterrent.”

The bloodletting was followed by an outpour of rage among the refugees inhabiting the camp, with scores coming out in force to protest.

Palestinian factions in Sidon declared a general strike in mourning for the victims. “This attack came hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to continue the war on all fronts,” they said in a statement.

The strike coincided with the Israeli military’s daily deadly violations of a ceasefire deal expected to end its war of genocide in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023 and has so far claimed the lives of more than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The regime has also been carrying out similar daily breaches of a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

The deal was clinched last year, with Tel Aviv supposedly committing to ending its escalated deadly aggression against the country that had martyred more than 4,000 people.