Fatima Abdel Rahman Zorout, 7, who was wounded in an Israeli airstrike, is wheeled on a gurney at the Alaaeddine Hospital in Sarafand, south Lebanon, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. AP
Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in a deadly exchange of cross-border fire since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7.
Israel shifted its focus this week from Gaza to its northern front with Lebanon, while Hezbollah has launched barrages of rockets into northern Israel.
Since Monday, Israeli warplanes have bombarded what the military says are Hezbollah targets around Lebanon, leaving around 700 people dead, according to the Lebanese health ministry, which says the majority were civilians.
On Monday and Tuesday, 50 of those killed were children, UNICEF said, citing ministry data.
"The attacks on Lebanon are killing and injuring children at a frightening rate," UNICEF's Lebanon representative Edouard Beigbeder said, according to the statement.
The situation "has moved from crisis to catastrophe. The suffering of children must stop," Beigbeder said, calling for a halt in the fighting.
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