An Israeli strike on a car in Lebanon’s south has killed four people, including three women, and Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said direct material damage from Israel’s war on Lebanon is estimated at between $3 and $4 billion.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said on Monday that a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker, and a male Syrian worker were killed when an Israeli drone targeted their car as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
Israel has kept up intermittent strikes on south Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area, despite the two-week-old truce.
An agreement signed last month by the United States and Iran aimed at ending the wider regional war also established a ceasefire in Lebanon, in effect since June 21.
Speaking following a ministerial meeting, Lebanese Information Minister Morcos said the direct material damage from Israel’s war on Lebanon is estimated at between $3 and $4 billion, and the figures are preliminary and do not include economic losses or indirect damage, according to the state news agency NNA.
Morcos said Monday’s ministerial meeting discussed the results of field visits by ministers to southern villages and towns, including ways to support the return of residents to their areas and provide proper shelter.
The ministers also discussed supporting the needs of municipalities and local economic sectors to help residents return, ahead of the launch of reconstruction efforts, he said,
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said that Israel's occupation was preventing the Lebanese army's deployment to the south.
A statement from his office said he emphasised the need to pressure Israel to withdraw because "the occupation undermines the legitimacy of the (Lebanese) state and prevents the army from deploying and laying the foundations for achieving a just and lasting peace."
Israeli forces also blew up homes and carried out explosions in two towns in southern Lebanon and detonated explosives overnight in the town of Houla in the Marjayoun district.
Since March 2, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people and wounded over 12,000 others, according to official figures.
Israeli forces also continue to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, some held for decades and others seized during the 2023-2024 war, while advancing more than 10 kilometres into Lebanese territory during the latest offensive.
