At least 24 killed in Israeli airstrikes on south Lebanon

Video filmed by China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Thursday showed the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, with official sources confirming that Israeli attacks had killed at least 24 people during the day.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said in a statement early in the day that in an initial toll, nine people, including two children and five women, were killed and 23 were wounded in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported later on Thursday that at least 15 people were killed and several others wounded in Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon in the afternoon, including a family of four killed when a home was struck in the village of Jibchit.

Hezbollah said it had carried out retaliatory attacks, targeting two Israeli Merkava tanks in Bint Jbeil with attack drones and striking a gathering of Israeli soldiers with a swarm of drones.

Israel's military said that a Hezbollah drone attack had killed an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that a separate Hezbollah drone attack wounded 12 Israeli soldiers near the border.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 2,586 people had been killed and 8,020 wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Thursday's violence 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.

Naval and air units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command (STC) conducted combat readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas on Thursday.

Huangyan Dao is an inherent part of China's territory. The STC says it has enhanced readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas since the beginning of April.

Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to prevent all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts, said the STC, adding that their mission is to resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea.

A video released Thursday by the STC shows naval and air units coordinate to locate and track a target.