At least 41 people were killed yesterday Sunday in Israeli bombings in Lebanon, including 23 in a village north of the capital Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced.

Israel, in open war against Hezbollah since September 23, has in recent days intensified its strikes against strongholds of the Lebanese Shiite movement, an ally of Iran, both in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in southern and eastern Lebanon.

But yesterday the Israeli air force also targeted the community of Aalamat, in Jbail (Bibl) governorate, as a result of which “23 people were killed, including seven children, and six others were injured,” the Ministry of Health said, warning that the toll might be even heavier, as “human remains” were recovered from the wreckage.

A home was targeted shortly after a member of Hezbollah went there to visit internally displaced persons, a source close to the security forces told AFP, clarifying that the member of the movement succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

AFP footage shows rescue crews digging with their bare hands through the wreckage of a completely flattened building, while a heavy construction machine, an excavator, removes chunks of concrete.

The Israeli military has repeatedly targeted properties that, according to Lebanese media, have in some cases housed individuals linked to Hezbollah.

The zone was cordoned off by Lebanese security forces and members of Hezbollah, an AFP correspondent on the ground found. Dozens of people piled their belongings into vehicles and left the village.

Via Facebook, Ali Haidar, who comes from there, said that the house that was targeted belonged to his grandfather and that 35 internally displaced persons from Baalbek (east), mainly “women and children” were housed in it.

Baalbek province, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, has been systematically pounded by Israel for days; tens of thousands of its residents have been forced to flee.

At least 12 people were killed yesterday in Israeli shelling there, the health ministry said. Three others were killed in a raid on the village of Qasr, in Hermel governorate, always in eastern Lebanon, according to the same source.

In the south, three members of a first aid service linked to Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli shelling of their center in Adlun community, the health ministry said.

For its part, Hezbollah announced that yesterday it targeted Israeli soldiers in Lebanese border villages and launched rockets, missiles and drones against targets in northern Israel.

In addition to the massive aerial bombardment campaign in Lebanon, the Israeli army has been conducting ground attacks in the southern part of the country since September 30.

Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in the border areas in southern Lebanon to allow the safe return of some 60,000 residents of northern sectors of its territory who were forced to flee their homes by the Lebanese movement’s fire from October 8, 2023.

Since then, more than 3,180 people have been killed in Lebanon, the majority of them civilians, according to the figures of the Lebanese Ministry of Health.