Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 14 in deadliest day since ceasefire began

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south killed 14 people on Sunday, the deadliest day since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force over a week ago. The health ministry said the dead on Sunday included two women and two children, adding that 37 other people were wounded. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed. The US-mediated ceasefire – which started on 16 April and has been extended to mid-May – has brought a significant reduction in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, though both sides have continued to fire at each other, trading blame over breaches. “Hezbollah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday, adding “we act vigorously according to the rules we agreed upon with the United States, and also, by the way, with Lebanon .” Hezbollah said it would not cease its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and on towns in northern Israel as long as Israel continued its “ceasefire violations”. The Iran-backed group added in a statement that it would not wait for diplomacy that has “proven ineffective” or rely on Lebanese authorities that had “failed to protect the country.” Israeli troops are operating inside what they have labelled a “yellow line”, which demarcates a ribbon of Lebanese territory around 10km deep along the length of the border, where residents have been warned not to return . …