At least 21 people have been killed and eight others injured in a rare Israeli air strike in northern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.Most of the Israeli air strikes over the past week have struck in the majority Shia south and the Bekaa Valley in the east - areas where Hezbollah is strong.However, a residential building in Aitou, a predominantly Christian village located in the mountains near the north-western coastal city of Tripoli, was struck on Monday.
A Lebanese security source said that the building was "targeted shortly after a man had arrived in a car". A house that had been rented to displaced families was hit, said the town's mayor Joseph Trad.
In an update the Israel Defence Forces made no explicit mention of a strike on the north, saying only that it had expanded its air campaign with a wave of strikes “deep within Lebanon”.
It came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon - including Beirut”.
“Everything is according to operational considerations. We have proven this recently and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” he added.
He was speaking during a visit to a military base in northern Israel where a drone launched by the Iran-backed group killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded dozens on Sunday night.
Meanwhile in Gaza, a battle is raging in the Jabalia refugee camp where Hamas attempts to regroup in areas from which the IDF has withdrawn.
The IDF said its troops killed "dozens" of Hamas fighters in the past day, including several that "fired anti-tank missiles at them".
Deaths in the area have soared in the past week, as pitched battles between the IDF and Hamas continue.
The intense clashes come a little over a year since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza following the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas
The IDF has launched a campaign into Lebanon in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks which have forced thousands of Israeli families in border areas to flee their homes.
