3 children and woman killed in Israeli strike on car in south Lebanon

Four relatives of a journalist were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese news agency said, adding that the journalist was also wounded.

The border area between Lebanon and Israel has seen multiple exchanges of fire, in particular between Hezbollah and Israel, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7 attacks.

The National News Agency (NNA) said the four victims are the sister of radio correspondent Samir Ayoub and her three grandchildren, aged 10, 12 and 14.

They were following the journalist's car in another vehicle when they were killed.

Earlier Sunday, four rescue workers were injured in an Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon that hit two ambulances, according to the association that owned the vehicles and state media.

NNA said an Israeli strike targeted two ambulances belonging to the Risala Scout association, which operates rescue teams and is affiliated with the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally.

The association said "a drone from the Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted... the two vehicles, causing moderate injuries to four paramedics."

It said the attack took place at dawn when the two ambulances were called to evacuate wounded in the village of Tayr Harfa, some three kilometers (two miles) from the border with Israel.

The Israeli army said it had used a drone to target a "terrorist cell that attempted to fire from Lebanon toward the area of Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel."

It said troops had observed "two suspicious vehicles" in the area, but said "the strike was directed at the terrorist cell and not at the vehicles."

Lebanon's health ministry condemned "a cowardly and barbaric attack."

Since October 7, at least 81 people have been killed on the Lebanese side in cross-border skirmishes, according to an AFP tally, including 59 Hezbollah fighters.

Six soldiers and two civilians have been killed on the Israeli side.

On October 13, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six other journalists, including two from AFP, were wounded while covering the cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities have accused Israel of being behind the strikes.

Hezbollah said two more of its fighters were killed on Sunday morning.

Rising tensions on the border have raised concerns that the Israel's war to destroy Hamas in Gaza could become a wider conflagration.

In his first speech since the fighting erupted between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday accused the United States of being "entirely responsible" for the war.

He also warned Israel against the "folly" of an attack on Lebanon, adding that halting its "aggression against Gaza" would prevent a regional conflict.