BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed, including three Lebanese Civil Defense rescuers, and two Lebanese soldiers were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
The ministry's Emergency Operations Center said the preliminary toll from the strike included five dead, among them three civil defense paramedics who were trapped under the rubble after being targeted while carrying out a rescue mission.
The statement added that two Lebanese army soldiers were also injured in the attack.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the killing of three civil defense personnel in Majdal Zoun, saying that targeting rescuers constituted a violation of international laws, according to a statement from the presidency.
Also on Tuesday, Hezbollah said in a statement that it shot down an Israeli army Hermes 900 drone with a surface-to-air missile over the town of Qantara in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said in a statement that an Israeli civilian employed as a contract worker for the Defense Ministry was killed in southern Lebanon by a Hezbollah explosive drone.
The man worked for an engineering company contracted by the ministry to carry out projects in Lebanon, the military said, without elaborating.
The developments came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect at midnight between April 16 and 17, following weeks of intensified cross-border fighting linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the current 10-day ceasefire would be extended by three weeks. ■
