Soldiers and volunteers try to bring under control a large fire caused by Israeli shellingovernight, in a border village in southern Lebanon, local officials said.

“The fire reached the limits of Alma al-Shaab after midnight and is approaching the houses,” said the village’s mayor, Jean Ghafari.

Members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the Lebanese Army and the Civil Defense, with the help of volunteers, are still trying to put out the fire that started in a wooded area between the villages of Alma al Shaab and Nakura. An AFP photojournalist saw the flames surrounding several houses, after consuming the olive groves in the area.

The Israeli military said that in the last 24 hours it “neutralized five Hezbollah terrorist cells that attempted to set” against Israel and on Wednesday evening announced that it had targeted targets in southern Lebanon in retaliation for the launch of a surface-to-air missile.

Almost 70% of Alma al-Shaab’s residents have fled the village since the border skirmishes began, according to the mayor.

Abbas Awanda, the mayor of the city of Nakura, accused the Israeli army of dropping “phosphorus bombs” during the night that caused the fire, which grew large due to the winds.

The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, also claimed that Israel uses ‘phosphorus bombs’ against his country.

Israel has repeatedly denied using such bombs.

Following the attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, there have been daily clashes between the Lebanese Hezbollah and Israeli forces on Lebanon’s southern border. From these clashes, 57 people have been killed on the Lebanese side: four civilians, 44 fighters of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah and nine members of organizations cooperating with it.

On the Israeli side, the dead are 4.

Phosphorus bombs are incendiary weapons and their use against civilians is prohibited, but not against military targets. On October 12, Human Rights Watch warned that “Israel’s use of white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious injury in the long term.”