Four US citizens, including three children, were among five people killed Sunday by an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military said it had \u201cstruck and eliminated\u201d a Hezbollah operator in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, but acknowledged that \u201cseveral uninvolved civilians\u201d were also killed in the strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible. The incident is under review,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Among those killed were a father and three of his children, who were US citizens, according to Lebanon\u2019s Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, in a statement mourning their deaths.<\/p>\n
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji said the mother of the American family was injured in the Israeli attack and is in a critical condition.<\/p>\n
CNN has approached the US State Department for comment.<\/p>\n
Lebanese state-run NNA news reported that a drone had fired two missiles at a motorcycle and a Mercedes car. In the car, the father and his children were killed. The motorcyclist, the apparent target of the strike, was also killed.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam<\/a> described the attack as a \u201cmassacre\u201d against civilians, adding that the Israeli strike constituted a \u201cmessage of intimidation targeting our people returning to their villages in the south.\u201d<\/p>\n He urged the international community to condemn Israel \u201cin the strongest terms for its repeated violations of international resolutions and international law.\u201d<\/p>\n The United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) said it was \u201cshocked and outraged by the killing of three children from the same family in an airstrike in South Lebanon,\u201d in a post on X on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cAttacks on children are unconscionable,\u201d UNICEF added.<\/p>\n \u201cNo child should ever pay the price of conflict with their life. Hostilities must cease immediately to ensure the protection of every child,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon<\/a> despite the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in November last year.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s President Joseph Aoun, who\u2019s in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said Israel is \u201cpersisting in its continuous violations of international resolutions, foremost among them the ceasefire agreement,\u201d in reaction to the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom New York, we appeal to the international community, whose leaders are present in the halls of the United Nations, to make every effort to put an end to the violations of international resolutions,\u201d Aoun said in a statement on Sunday. \u201cThere can be no peace over the blood of our children,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n