BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 20 (AFP): Israeli strikes on south Lebanon Tuesday killed 19 people, the health ministry said, as Hezbollah reported clashes with Israeli troops despite a truce in the war.
"An Israeli airstrike on the town of Deir Qanun al-Nahr in the Tyre district resulted in an initial toll of 10 martyrs, including three children and three women, in addition to three wounded," the ministry said in a statement, calling it a "massacre".
It said a woman was among nine killed in other strikes across the south, which wounded 29, including six women and a child.
Reuters adds, before the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in 2023, at least 3,000 Gazan pilgrims made the Hajj every year. The signing of a ceasefire in October that halted major fighting raised Palestinian hopes for renewed travel but they have been dashed by continued heavy restrictions on movement.
"We registered and our names got selected for the Hajj before the war. Then the war broke out here and it became a barrier...," said 64-year-old Abu Lehia, who now lives in a tent encampment in Khan Younis.
"I am worried I'll follow him (die) while I'm longing to perform the Hajj. But God willing, we hope to perform the Hajj despite the constraints, despite the siege," she said.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Israel in February allowed a partial reopening of the Rafah crossing to Egypt, Gaza's main gateway to the outside world.
However, only a few hundred people have been permitted to pass through each week, mostly the sick and a small number of escorts.
"The border crossing is closed. Why is this happening to pilgrims? They want to fulfill their Hajj obligation, they do not want to do anything else," Abu Lehia said.
"We were supposed to be there, we were supposed to be there in these holy days," she added as she watched footage of pilgrims in Mecca on her phone.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing access to Gaza, said the Rafah agreement allows passage only for humanitarian cases, with traveller lists determined by Egyptian authorities and approved by Israeli security services.
Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said only 5,304 people had travelled in and out of Gaza since February, less than a third of the numbers expected.
Gazans will mark Eid al?Adha on May 27 without sacrificial animals for a third straight year due to Israeli restrictions, Gaza's agriculture ministry said.
