Hamas says attack on camp led to civilian casualties, accuses Israel of 'flimsy pretexts'

Hamas condemned Friday an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp that killed two people.

In a statement, Hamas said the attack led to "civilian" casualties.

The NNA said "an Israeli drone" targeted a neighbourhood of the Ain al-Helweh camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.

An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from a building in the densely populated camp as ambulances headed to the scene.

The Israeli army said in a statement that its forces "struck a Hamas command center from which terrorists operated".

The Israeli military "is operating against the entrenchment" of the Palestinian militant group in Lebanon and will "continue to act decisively against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate", it added.

It later claimed that the command center was embedded within the center of a civilian-populated area, and "recently used by Hamas terrorists to plan & prepare terror attacks against IDF troops and Israel—in violation of the ceasefire understandings."

Hamas rejected Israel's allegations as "flimsy pretexts", saying the targeted building "belongs to the joint security force charged with maintaining security and stability in the camp".