At least 60 dead as a result of Israeli attacks in eastern Lebanon

Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon have killed at least 60 people and injured around 58 others, according to the country’s health ministry.

The attacks targeted a number of towns and villages, including in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where at least 34 people were killed.

Sixteen people were killed in the town of Sahl Allak in Baalbeck province. The number of casualties is expected to rise as rescue operations continue, the National News Agency said.

In Ramm, also in Baalbeck, an Israeli airstrike killed nine people, including a mother and her four children, and injured one other person, the NNA said.

Another attack on the outskirts of the Gouraud barracks camp in Baalbeck province, where some Palestinian refugees are staying, claimed six lives and injured 17 others.

In Hellaniyeh, two people were killed and eight injured, while in Younine, also in Baalbeck, two more people were killed and six others were injured, the NNA reported.

It comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed his Lebanese counterpart to London on Monday and offered condolences over the deaths of civilians killed in Israeli attacks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that more than 2,700 people have been killed and nearly 12,600 injured in a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. A quarter of the dead were women and children.

Starmer and Prime Minister Najib Mikati agreed that an immediate ceasefire was needed to protect civilians and critical infrastructure, according to a readout from Starmer’s office.

“On the wider regional conflict, the Prime Minister outlined the need for all sides to de-escalate and work towards long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East,” a spokesperson for Starmer said.

The meeting came after British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told British MPs that his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, said the military effort in Lebanon would end soon.