Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon continue despite cease-fire call that has killed over 600

According to reports,the previous night witnessed the fiercest Israeli airstrikes on the city of Baalbek and its surroundings in eastern Lebanon.

An entire family perished in a strike on their home in the town of Chaat, according to the agency, which did not specify the number of family members killed.

Reports also said three people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the village of Ayta al-Shaab, and a fourth person – a Syrian national – was killed in an airstrike on the town of Qana, both sites in southern Lebanon.

Israeli jets also carried out overnight airstrikes on the southern Tyre district, including on the towns of Tayr Debba, Bedias, Maarakeh and Bazourieh, eyewitnesses confirmed to Anadolu.

The continued deadly Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon come despite a late Wednesday call by the US, EU, and nine other nations urging the two sides to agree to a 21-day cease-fire to "provide space for diplomacy."

Israel has pounded several areas in Lebanon since Monday morning amid an escalation in cross-border warfare with Hezbollah.

At least 610 people have since been killed and over 2,000 others injured, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border clashes since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,500 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of spreading the Gaza conflict regionally.