BEIRUT

The death toll from Israel’s ongoing onslaught on Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023 has surged to 2,367 with 17 more civilians killed in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

A ministry statement said that 17 people were killed and 182 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours, taking the number of injuries to 11,088.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala