Why did Israel attack Lebanon’s biggest Palestinian refugee camp?
Al Jazeera
The attack on Ein el-Hilweh was the first on Palestinian refugee camps since Israel escalated its operations in Lebanon.
Israel has bombed the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in Lebanon as it has escalated its attacks inside its northern neighbour, ostensibly to target Hezbollah and armed Palestinian factions after almost a year of cross-border exchanges.
In the narrow alleys of the densely populated Palestinian camp near the coastal city of Sidon, people wailed frantically in the aftermath of the Israeli bombing overnight on Tuesday, a video verified by Al Jazeera shows. In the video, a man rushes towards the whirring red lights of an ambulance, carrying the frail body of what appears to be an injured child.
This is the first attack on the Palestinian refugee camp since Israel military launched attacks on Lebanon last on Monday last week, killing top Hezbollah leaders, including its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in two weeks of Israeli strikes, and a purported ground operation launched overnight on Tuesday has raised fears of a wider regional war.
Here’s more about the attack and the camp itself:
