Israel says it has expanded its military ground operation in Lebanon

(CNN) — Israel’s military ground operation in southern Lebanon has been expanded, the country’s defense minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

Katz did not clarify when the decision to expand operations was taken and did not offer any details on what the expansion entails. Israel launched what it described as a “limited ground operation” to expel Hezbollah from southern Lebanon early last month.

“We have expanded the ground maneuver in southern Lebanon and we are operating against Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh district in Beirut and wherever necessary,” Katz told soldiers during his first visit to Israel’s Northern Command.

There were nearly 20 Israeli airstrikes against what the Israeli military described as Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The newly appointed defense minister maintained that Israel will not agree to “any ceasefires.”

“We will not take our foot off the pedal,” Katz said, adding that Israel will not “agree to any deal that does not ensure the disarmament of Hezbollah and its withdrawal across the Litani River – and especially Israel’s right to enforce … and act against any terrorist activity and organization.”

The Litani river is some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Israel’s northern border.

Israel’s strikes across Lebanon killed at least 43 people on Thursday, including eight civil defense workers, according to Lebanon’s health ministry and civil defense directorate.

The General Directorate of the Civil Defense said on X that an Israeli strike destroyed their headquarters in the village of Douris near Baalbek.

The civil defense building was hit “while a number of workers were inside, ready to receive calls for relief and immediate intervention to assist citizens,” the directorate said in a statement.

Three other people were killed in the same strike, the health ministry said.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the alleged strikes on civil defense workers.

The IDF told CNN earlier on Thursday that it “has been operating to defend Israel’s northern border, striking military targets in order to counter the continuing threat Hezbollah poses to Israeli homes and families.”

The IDF also accused Hezbollah of escalating its attacks against Israel and said the militant group has fired over 16,000 rockets into Israel since October 8, 2023.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike hit al-Shaab neighborhood in Baalbek, killing eight people and injuring 27 others, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Four other people were killed and 14 others were injured in two separate airstrikes in the Baalbek-Hermel region, the ministry added.

Separately, an Israeli strike targeted a mobile center of the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority in the southern Lebanese village of Arabsalim, killing six people, including four health workers, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Despite the Israeli ground operation into southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has maintained a daily barrage of rockets against parts of northern Israel and continues to launch drones against Israeli cities. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said around 50 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel on Wednesday.

Hezbollah on Wednesday said it had carried out at least 20 attacks against Israel and its troops in Lebanon with drones, missiles, and rockets, saying its actions were “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip … and in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Wednesday praised the militant group’s fighters for their support in a handwritten letter published online. The letter comes after the group’s members expressed support over the weekend for his leadership. Qassem was named the group’s new leader in late October, a month after his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike.

Growing toll on civilians

Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians. Airstrikes on several towns across Lebanon have killed at least 20 children since Sunday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

In the town of Joun in southern Lebanon, at least eight children were killed on Tuesday, the ministry said. A separate attack on Tuesday killed at two children in Baalchmay, southeast of Beirut.

On Wednesday, an Israeli attack in the village of Dawhet Aramoun, south of Beirut, left three children dead. On Sunday, an Israeli strike in the village of Aalmat, north of Beirut, left seven children dead.

The Israeli military told CNN on Thursday that it has been “operating to defend Israel’s northern border, striking military targets in order to counter the continuing threat Hezbollah poses to Israeli homes and families,” since cross-border hostilities escalated on October 8, 2023.

“Hezbollah has continued to escalate its attacks against Israel, firing over 16,000 rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel, killing civilians and displacing tens of thousands from their homes,” the IDF said, adding that it makes “great efforts to estimate and consider potential civilian collateral damage.”

The number of children killed in Lebanon over the past 50 days now accounts for 80% of all children killed in the past year, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said Wednesday in a post on X.

“Children in Lebanon are enduring the deadliest phase of this war,” he added.

As of Tuesday, at least 2,683 people had been killed and 12,144 injured in Lebanon since mid-September when Israel stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah, according to a CNN tally of health ministry figures. The health ministry numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Katz’s announcement about expanding Israel’s ground operation also comes as the military confirmed the death of six Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. This marks one of the deadliest days for Israeli troops in Lebanon since the start of the ground incursion on October 1. The deadliest day so far was on October 2, when eight soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.

Those killed on Wednesday were all from the Golani brigade – regarded as an elite infantry unit – and included a platoon commander, a squad commander, a squad sergeant, and three soldiers, the IDF said.

At least 41 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since the start of Israel’s ground incursion on October 1, according to a CNN tally of the IDF figures. At least 792 Israeli soldiers have been killed, including 373 killed inside the Gaza Strip, since Hamas’s deadly attacks on the country on October 7, 2023, according to the IDF.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh and Nechirvan Mando contributed to this report