16 Israeli soldiers killed, 690 wounded since Feb. 28: Army

A total of 16 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 690 wounded since Feb. 28 in attacks linked to Iran and Lebanon, military data showed Sunday.

The military said 690 soldiers were wounded, including 96 seriously and 42 critically, while the rest sustained moderate or minor injuries. It added that 149 soldiers remain hospitalized.

In the past 24 hours, 37 soldiers were wounded, most of them “as a result of explosive devices,” the military said, without specifying the location.

The figures could not be independently verified, as Israel maintains tight restrictions on information related to the impact of attacks by Iran and Hezbollah.

Earlier Sunday, the newspaper Maariv reported that two Israeli soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded in two separate incidents caused by explosive devices in what is referred to as the “Yellow Line” in southern Lebanon.

Israeli media described the line as an unofficial boundary extending 4 to 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory along the border known as the Blue Line.

Maariv said the “threat of roadside bombs in Lebanon had been a nightmare that haunted every fighter and every unit operating in the south during the 1980s and 1990s, when the Israeli army was bogged down in the Lebanese quagmire.”

The present conflict escalated after a US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began on Feb. 28 and spread to Lebanon on March 2, with Iran and Hezbollah responding with missiles and drones targeting Israeli positions, as well as attacks on US bases and interests in the region.

A two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect on April 8, although no final agreement to end the war has been reached, while US President Donald Trump announced a separate 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul