Three Lebanese paramedics were killed and two others wounded, one critically, in an Israeli attack while they were extinguishing fires in the southern town of Faroun, Lebanon's health ministry said on Saturday.
"Israeli forces targeted a team from the Lebanese Civil Defence as they responded to fires sparked by recent Israeli air strikes," a ministry statement said, specifying that the strike hit a fire truck.
The Israeli military said: "Earlier today, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) struck and eliminated terrorists from the Amal terrorist organisation that operated within a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Froun in southern Lebanon."
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack as a violation of international law and announced an emergency meeting on Monday with Western ambassadors and international organisations to address the ongoing hostilities.
"To date, because of Israel's aggression, 25 paramedics from various ambulance teams have been killed, along with two health workers, and 94 paramedics and health workers have been injured," the health ministry statement added.
The health ministry also condemned the attack as a "blatant strike" on an official Lebanese state apparatus, marking the second such attack on an emergency team in less than 12 hours.
Hezbollah issued a statement, saying it launched a "squadron of missiles" in response to the Faroun attack, targeting an Israeli military headquarters, causing casualties.
The intensity of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has ratcheted up steadily, displacing tens of thousands of people on either side of the Lebanese-Israeli frontier.
Israeli strikes kill 61 people in Gaza as fighting continues
Earlier, across the Gaza Strip, Israeli military strikes killed at least 61 people in the space of 48 hours, Palestinian medics said on Saturday.
Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the territory.
Air strikes on two former schools that were housing displaced people, one in Gaza City and one in Jabalia, killed at least 12 people, Palestinian medics said.
The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas gunmen who were operating in the compound.
Five more people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City, Palestinian medics said, with a total of 28 people killed on Saturday.
The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah groups said they had fought Israeli troops across Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, and in some incidents detonated bombs to target tanks and other army vehicles.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
It was prompted by the Hamas terror attack in southern Israel on October 7 last year in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Reuters
