Israeli Airstrikes Kill Nine in Tyre Amid Fragile Lebanon Ceasefire
BEIRUT — June 5, 2026 — Israeli airstrikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre have killed at least nine people and wounded dozens more over the past week, Lebanese health officials confirmed, as a partial ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah continued to show signs of strain with near-daily violations reported on both sides of the border.
The deadliest single strike occurred on Thursday, June 4, when an Israeli attack on the town of Sohmor in West Bekaa killed five people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. A separate strike near Tyre killed three more . Earlier strikes on Tyre on Monday, June 1, killed four people and wounded 127 — including 39 staff members at the Jabal Amel Hospital — when Israeli warplanes targeted an area adjacent to the medical facility .
Hospital Strike Draws International Condemnation
The attack on Jabal Amel Hospital has drawn particular outrage. Lebanese health officials reported that the wounded staff included four doctors, 27 nurses, and eight administrative employees, four of whom remain in critical condition . The strike caused severe damage across multiple floors of the hospital, as well as its departments and parking lot.
“They are targeting journalists, ambulance workers, medical staff. It makes no difference, and all they want is to kick us out of our country,” Muhammad Sleiman, a local resident, told the BBC while surveying the damage outside the hospital . Corridors inside the facility were littered with broken glass, collapsed ceiling panels, and damaged incubators.
The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, stating it had struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in the area. It maintained that the hospital “was not targeted” but accused Hezbollah of embedding itself within civilian infrastructure — a claim the group denies .
Paramedics Among the Dead
On Wednesday, June 3, separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed eight people, including two paramedics whose ambulance was struck while responding to emergencies . An airstrike on the town of Housh in the Tyre district killed six people, including four Syrians and two Palestinians. An ambulance operated by the Al-Risala Scout Association was hit in the town of Shahour, killing two paramedics and seriously wounding a third.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry condemned the attack on the ambulance as a breach of international humanitarian law, which protects medical personnel and emergency responders during armed conflict. “The targeting of healthcare workers and ambulances is an inhumane and barbaric act,” the ministry said .
Since the conflict began, the World Health Organization has verified approximately 190 attacks on healthcare facilities in southern Lebanon, resulting in 128 healthcare workers killed and 332 injured .
Truce Announced, Fighting Continues
The violence has persisted despite a partial ceasefire plan announced by the United States on Monday, June 1, which was accepted by Israel and the Lebanese government. Under the agreement, Israeli forces would not bomb Beirut in exchange for Hezbollah halting its attacks on Israel .
Hezbollah, however, has rejected the plan. In a written statement read on television on Thursday, June 4, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said the agreement’s demand that his fighters withdraw from southern Lebanon “under fire would mean surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals” .
“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” Kassem said. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation” .
Casualty Figures Mount
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has reported that more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated, with over 1.2 million displaced . Israel reports that 25 of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed over the same period .
A Serbian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was also killed, and two others were wounded, when a mortar struck their position near Marjayoun. Neither UNIFIL nor Serbia’s Defense Ministry would say whether the mortar fire came from Israel or Hezbollah .
As of Friday, June 5, fighting continues along the border, with Israeli ground forces occupying approximately one-fifth of Lebanese territory — the deepest incursion since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation .
SOURCES
