Lebanon’s health ministry said four people were killed and 20 others were wounded in Israeli attacks with a hospital destroyed in Nabatieh
Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed four people and wounded 20 on Sunday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, after the Israeli army issued its first evacuation order in several weeks and claimed it was responding to alleged Hezbollah drone attacks.
Two women were killed in the town of Arab Salim, in Nabatieh district, while two other people were killed in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the ministry said. The provisional toll included several women and three children among the injured, with casualties also reported in Nabatieh and Kfar Rumman.
At around 6am local time, the Israeli military ordered residents within 300 metres of a building in Arab Salim to leave, describing the site as a Hezbollah "facility" but providing no evidence for the claim.
The warning marked the first such evacuation order issued by Israel in Lebanon in several weeks. Lebanon’s state-run *National News Agency (NNA) *said Israeli warplanes struck a different house after the warning, destroying it and killing the two women, before subsequently attacking the building named in the Israeli notice.
The health ministry said six people, including two girls, were wounded in Arab Salim. In Nabatieh al-Fawqa, two people were killed and two injured, while further casualties were reported in Nabatieh’s al-Rahibat neighbourhood and in Kfar Rumman.
Israel said it had launched the strikes after Hezbollah fired two drones towards Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon. It accused the group of a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire framework, although no Israeli casualties were reported.
In Nabatieh al-Fawqa, an Israeli strike destroyed part of the Ghandour hospital, according to NNA. The hospital had been out of service for years, but its destruction added to the devastation of civilian infrastructure in a district repeatedly subjected to Israeli attacks.
*NNA *also reported that a heavy strike in Nabatieh targeted a historic building and damaged offices used by the Lebanese finance and agriculture authorities, as well as nearby shops and cafes.
Israeli artillery later hit the outskirts of Aitaroun, the forested Jounine area and the Doha area of Kfar Rumman, all in or near Nabatieh district, where Israel has intensified attacks in recent days.
Sunday’s attacks came a day after Israeli strikes killed five people in southern Lebanon including an 18-year-old woman in Mayfadoun.
The escalation coincided with reports that Israel’s military is considering a partial withdrawal from southern Lebanon, reducing the depth of its self-declared security zone from roughly 10km to between three and four kilometres from the border.
Israeli state broadcaster *Kan *reported that security officials had held internal discussions over creating a narrower zone, reportedly called the "Gray Line", following Israeli operations at the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge. Any redeployment would require political approval, the report said.
Israel claimed this week to have taken "operational control" of the ridge, which overlooks a large area of southeastern Lebanon and lies about 15km from the Israeli border. The military said it had cleared underground Hezbollah routes there, while Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops would remain in the security zone until Hezbollah was disarmed.
Lebanese authorities and rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s continued air strikes and ground presence as violations of the ceasefire arrangement.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 4,300 people since Hezbollah entered the regional conflict in response to US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February 2026.
