BEIRUT

At least 25 people were killed and 14 others injured in overnight Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

A ministry statement said Israeli warplanes struck a building in Barja town in central Lebanon, killing 20 people and injuring 14 others.

The ministry expected the death toll to rise as many people are still under the rubble.

The state news agency NNA said the bodies of five people were removed from the rubble after an Israeli strike on a home in Chehabiyeh town in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, NNA said the Israeli army flew a military surveillance balloon over Baalbek in eastern Lebanon amid intensive Israeli drone activities in the Bekaa Valley.

Israel has escalated its air campaign in Lebanon since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation from year-long cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip.

More than 3,000 people have been killed and over 13,500 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 this year.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar