Two killed in Israeli strike on Ain al-Helweh camp

An Israeli strike on Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people on Friday, with Israel's army saying it had targeted the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The official National News Agency (NNA) later reported "heavy strikes" in the country's east, as Israel's army said it hit "Hezbollah command centers" in the Baalbek area.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, mostly targeting what it says are the militant group's sites and operatives but occasionally targets belonging to its Palestinian ally Hamas.

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

The health ministry said two people were killed in the raid.

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", calling activity there "a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon" and a threat to Israel.

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.

Hamas in a statement condemned the attack, which it said led to "civilian" casualties.

It 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".

A raid on Ain al-Helweh last November that Israel said targeted a Hamas training compound killed 13 people.

The U.N. rights office had said 11 children were killed in that strike, while Hamas denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon.

In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians at the outset of the Gaza war, triggering hostilities that culminated in two months of all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group.

On Sunday, Lebanon said an Israeli strike near the Syrian border in the country's east killed four people, as Israel said it targeted operatives from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.