'No rhyme or reason': Shock in Lebanon as Israel's wave of strikes kills Palestinian youths

Palestinian officials in Lebanon have rejected claims by the Israeli army that a deadly strike on a Palestinian refugee camp hit a Hamas training camp, insisting that the area bombed was a football pitch with children playing inside it.

At least 14 people were killed in the Israeli attack, with residents of the camp reporting hearing and feeling three missile impacts. It is the largest death toll in Lebanon in a single strike since a ceasefire was declared between Israel and Hezbollah in November last year; it is also the first strike on Ain Al Hilweh since the ceasefire.

It was followed on Wednesday by several strikes on southern Lebanon, with Israel claiming it had hit Hezbollah weapons storage sites as it continues to increase attacks.

Hamas dismissed Israeli army claims that it struck a training compound at the Palestinian camp as fabricated, saying the target was an “open sports field frequented by young men from the camp”.

The armed movement’s assertion was backed by Abdul Hadi Al Asadi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the spokesman for the Palestinian National Security Forces in Lebanon, who said the strike hit a “large group of boys under 18" playing football near the Khalid bin Walid Mosque complex in the Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp.

Neither Hamas nor the Israeli army provided any confirmation or reports of senior Hamas officials being killed.

The damage at the Ain Al Hilweh camp on Wednesday morning. AFP

Residents on the outskirts of the camp said the area was known to be guarded by Hamas security guards – not unusual for Ain Al Hilweh, where the armed movement maintains a role in the camp's security and governance.

“It’s not an excuse, no rhyme or reason,” said a Lebanese resident of a neighbourhood adjacent to Ain Al Hilweh. “I feel so sad for the boys who were killed.”

Rescue workers were still at the site on Wednesday afternoon, while the normally busy entrance of Ain Al Hilweh and the surrounding market was unusually quiet. Schools in Sidon were also closed for the day.

Fadi Salameh, the administrative director of Hamshari Hospital near Ain Al Hilweh, said the hospital had received five bodies and another five were sent to the nearby Hammoud Hospital – adding that most of the casualties were born between 2001-2009 but that the IDs of the victims had not all been received yet.

Mouna Noufal, who lives inside Ain Al Hilweh, told The National she was visiting her friend near the Khaled bin Walid mosque when she felt the Israeli missile impact.

“I was