UPDATE - 2 civilians killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

UPDATES DEATH TOLL; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE; CHANGES DECK

By Wassim Selfelddin, Abdel Ra'ouf Arnaout, and Naim Berjawi

ISTANBUL (AA) - Two civilians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on towns in southern Lebanon, Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The civilians were killed in airstrikes carried out within less than 12 hours, the statement said.

The first strike targeted a van in the town of Hanine, while the second targeted a car in the town of Tallouseh, it added.

Earlier, the Lebanese news agency NNA identified one of the victims as Mohammad Tahsin Hussein Qashqash, who was targeted in the morning as he prepared to start his van parked in front of his house to transport students to school in Hanine.

The drone fired several missiles at him, killing him and setting his van and a nearby sport utility vehicle on fire, the agency said.

Civil Defense crews extinguished the blaze and transferred the body to Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil, it added.

Separately, Israeli forces advanced in the early morning toward the outskirts of the villages of Aita al-Shaab and Ramyeh in the same district, where they rigged a house with explosives and detonated it, destroying it completely, the agency reported.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it targeted and killed a Lebanese man who was attempting to rebuild military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The military did not identify the person killed.

It added that over the past week, forces from the 91st Division killed three people, claiming they were Hezbollah members working to restore the group's military infrastructure.

The division also destroyed several buildings and engineering vehicles that Hezbollah used in order to advance what the military claimed as “hostile plans” in southern Lebanon, the military also said.

Later, the Israeli army claimed it had targeted a member of Hezbollah in Tallouseh, without providing further details.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the Israeli military’s statements.

The attacks come amid repeated Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024.

Israel continues to occupy five Lebanese hilltops seized during the latest war that began in October 2023, in addition to other Lebanese areas it has held for decades.

The offensives have killed more than 4,000 people and wounded 17,000 in Lebanon.

* Writing by Lina Altawell and Rania Abushamala in Istanbul.