Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon kills 13 people, Lebanese ministry says

SIDON Lebanon AP An Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed people and wounded several others state media and authorities authorities reported It was the deadliest strike on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago The drone strike hit a car in the parking lot of a mosque in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon the state-run National News Agency revealed The Lebanese Fitness Ministry mentioned people were killed and several others wounded in the airstrike without giving further details Hamas fighters in the area prevented journalists from reaching the scene as ambulances rushed to evacuate the wounded and the dead The Israeli military revealed it struck a Hamas training compound that was being used to prepare an attack against Israel and its army It added that the Israeli army would continue to act against Hamas wherever the group operates Hamas condemned the attack in a message saying the strike hit a sports playground and denying that it was a training compound Over the past two years Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed scores of bureaucrats from the militant Hezbollah group as well as Palestinian factions such as Hamas Saleh Arouri the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group s military wing was killed in a drone strike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Jan Several other Hamas authorities have been killed in strikes since then Hamas led the Oct attack on southern Israel that killed about people That sparked Israel s offensive on the Gaza Strip that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians according to the Gaza Soundness Ministry A day after the Israel-Hamas war started Hezbollah began firing rockets toward Israeli posts along the dividing line Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September That war the most of newest of several conflicts involving Hezbollah over the past four decades killed more than people in Lebanon including hundreds of civilians and caused an estimated billion worth of destruction according to the World Bank In Israel people died including soldiers The war ended in late November with a U S -brokered ceasefire Since then Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes in Lebanon saying that Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its capabilities Lebanon s Fitness Ministry has broadcasted more than people killed and around wounded by Israeli military actions since the ceasefire