16 dead in new toll for Israel strikes on Nabatiyeh

The mayor of Nabatiyeh Ahmad Kahil was among sixteen people killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the municipality of the southern Lebanese city.

"The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others... was martyred. It's a massacre," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding he had been in the municipality building.

Four members of a relief team were killed in the strike on the municipality building.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza on Wednesday said the strikes were "devastating".

"This morning a devastating attack claimed the lives of yet more civilians and local authorities working to provide relief," Riza said, adding that he mourns four "members of a relief team with whom the U.N. and humanitarian partners have been working for more than a year".

Israel carried out Wednesday 11 air strikes on Nabatiyeh and surrounding areas in south Lebanon, days after strikes destroyed the southern city's marketplace.

"For now, 11 strikes have mainly hit Nabatiyeh but also its surroundings," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding that the intense raids "formed a kind of belt of fire" in the area.

The health ministry said 16 people were killed and 52 others wounded in Israeli strikes on municipal buildings in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, revising upwards an earlier toll.

"Sixteen were martyred and 52 others wounded in the final toll of the Israeli enemy raid on the buildings of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities," the ministry said in a statement, after earlier reporting six killed.

The Israeli army said its forces hit Hezbollah targets embedded among civilians, without providing evidence.

"The IDF army struck dozens of Hezbollah terrorist targets in the Nabatiyeh area and dismantled underground infrastructure used by Hezbollah's Radwan Forces in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the strikes on Nabatiyeh, saying they intentionally targeted a municipality meeting.

Mikati "condemned the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh, which deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city's services and relief situation," he said in a statement.

Mikati accused the international community of being “deliberately silent” about Israeli strikes that have killed civilians and attacks on U.N. peacekeepers.

“What solution can be hoped for in light of this reality?” he said in a statement.

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said that the building was targeted during a meeting held to coordinate relief work and aid distribution for people who have remained in southern Lebanon. He said a civil defense member was killed and others injured in the strike.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said the attack follows other incidents in which civilians and civilian infrastructure have been targeted across Lebanon. "Today’s reported killing of a humanitarian first responder is, tragically, part of this pattern," she said.

Hennis-Plasschaert added that violations of international humanitarian law are utterly unacceptable. "Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times."

"Civilian suffering is reaching unprecedented heights," she said, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

"Military solutions will not and cannot bring safety or security to either side of the Blue Line. It is time for all concerned actors to immediately cease their fire and open the door to diplomatic solutions capable of realizing the needs of citizens and advancing regional stability."

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on Douair, near Nabatiyeh, destroyed shops and residential apartments.