Lebanon death toll tops 3,000 13 months after Israel-Hezbollah conflict

BEIRUT — The 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon, the country’s Health Ministry said Monday, more than double the number of people killed since the last major war two decades ago.

The war shows no signs of ending, and Israel has said it is carrying out new operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon and parts of Syria, while Hezbollah continues to fire dozens of rockets into northern Israel.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran.

For nearly a year, the conflict was mostly confined to areas along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The conflict escalated dramatically on September 23, with intense Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut, leaving hundreds dead and displacing nearly 1.2 million people.

Israel began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on 1 October, causing widespread destruction in border villages but making little progress on the ground inside Lebanon. Israel says it is destroying Hezbollah weapons and command centers near the border, including an extensive tunnel system built by Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 16 people were killed and 90 wounded in Sunday’s attacks, bringing the death toll to 3,002. At least 13,492 were injured. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and Hezbollah fighters regarding the tax. Israel claimed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were killed.

In Israel, 72 people were killed in Hezbollah attacks, including 30 soldiers, according to the prime minister’s office. More than 60,000 people were displaced from their homes.

Also on Monday, Israel announced it had terminated the agreement that facilitates the work of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza.

It was the first step in implementing legislation passed last week that would sever ties with the agency, which Israel says was infiltrated by Hamas, and prevent it from operating in Israel.

The agency, known as UNRWA, denies the allegations and says it takes steps to ensure its neutrality.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had notified the UN of the cancellation of an agreement dating back to 1967 that facilitates the work of UNRWA. It said UNRWA “is part of the problem in the Gaza Strip and not part of the solution.”

Israel controls all entry into Gaza, and aid groups have warned that the legislation could severely hamper UNRWA’s work, creating new obstacles to tackling a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel says UNRWA is responsible for only 13 percent of aid entering Gaza and says other UN agencies and aid groups can fill the gap. But aid organizations say UNRWA is essential, and the agency says the Israeli figures do not take into account the key role it plays in coordinating aid deliveries.

“Without UNRWA’s coordination, without UNRWA’s logistical platforms … no UN agency could operate at the scale it needs,” said Jonathan Fowler, the agency’s spokesman.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US had been clear about its opposition to the legislation and deeply concerned about the insufficient number of aid trucks entering Gaza. “We have serious concerns about the implications of its full implementation, as well as our concerns about the underlying humanitarian situation in Gaza, even before Israel passes the legislation,” he told reporters in Washington on Monday.

The agency provides education, health and other basic services to Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants, who now number nearly six million in the region. Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s population.

The rest of the legislation is due to come into effect in three months.

— Lidman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.