(Reuters)
GENEVA, May 29 – An average of 11 children have been killed or injured every 24 hours in Lebanon in the last week, as Israel expanded strikes across the country in spite of a ceasefire being in place.
Heavy Israeli strikes hit towns and villages in southern Lebanon overnight on Wednesday and into Thursday, after Israel declared a new swathe of the area “a combat zone“.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut amid a ceasefire that has failed to halt fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
A total of 77 children have been killed or injured in the last seven days, UNICEF said. Since the ceasefire began in April 55 children have been killed, and 212 injured, according to the agency.
UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires described the toll as “staggering”.
The ceasefire announced by Washington on April 16 was meant to halt the war raging between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah since March 2.
