BEIRUT

Israel killed an entire family of six on Saturday in an airstrike on their home in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that warplanes launched the airstrike on the house of Ali Qasim in the town of Khraibeh.

It added that the strike destroyed the house and killed Qasim, his wife and their four children.​​​​​​​

The agency noted that the airstrike caused severe damage to neighboring buildings, while rescue operations to remove the rubble are still ongoing at the site.

Israel launched an air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are targets of the Hezbollah group in late September, in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare.

More than 3,400 people have been killed, nearly 14,600 injured and more than 1 million displaced by Israeli attacks since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala