Earlier in the day, Israeli aircraft launched several missiles at a residential area in Sarafand. One building, home to three families, was completely destroyed. Rescuers arrived on the scene and attempted to extract people from the rubble, but most of the women and children inside the building died, with their bodies transported to a nearby hospital, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
"The building was home to three families — all carrying the same last name: a father and two sons. Unfortunately, at the moment of the strike, all the families were at home — 21 people, of whom 15 died, mainly women and children. In a nearby damaged building, where refugees live, a little girl lost her life," Khalifeh said.
Sarafand was considered a relatively safe place until recently, prompting local residents to shelter dozens of families fleeing from border areas. Currently, about 2,000 families live in the settlement, the mayor said.
On October 1, Israel launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon, while also continuing to exchange air and rocket strikes with the Shiite movement. Despite losses, Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli troops on the ground and launching rockets across the border. Israel says its main objective is to create conditions for the return of 60,000 residents who fled the shelling in the north of Israel.