Lebanon's Health Ministry said Saturday that the cumulative death toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 has risen to 3,756, with 11,632 others wounded, as Israeli strikes and shelling across the country continued.
Three people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).
The casualties include the mukhtar (mayor) of the town of Rihan, Ali Badih, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the town in the Jezzine district.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck more than 70 Hezbollah military infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon over the previous 24 hours,
The targets included launchers and structures used by Hezbollah to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the IDF said in a statement.
The military added that it had also killed Hezbollah militants identified in areas where IDF troops were operating in southern Lebanon.
In response, Hezbollah said it launched drone attacks on Israeli military vehicles on the same day.
Also on Saturday, the IDF told residents of 20 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate.
"Anyone who is in the vicinity of Hezbollah installations or means of warfare is endangering their lives," according to the IDF.
Lebanon says death toll from Israeli attacks since March 2 rises to 3,756
A UN expert warned that the world is facing more frequent extreme weather events while calling for concrete actions from the international community.
Simone Sandholz, head of the Urban Futures and Sustainability Transformation Program at the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Saturday that rising global temperatures have resulted in more frequent extreme weather events, including heatwaves.
"Heat waves, for instance, are one of the climate extremes that we are facing more frequently and also more severely, including even here in Germany, which usually has been a bit more at the cooler side, if I may say so. And that's, of course, because our atmosphere is heating up and that results in this heat which is exacerbated then also by city environments and how we build up our places, for instance," she said.
Sandholz said that climate change is no longer a distant risk but an unfolding reality. She said its impacts have extended beyond the environment and could trigger future conflicts.
"The future climate extremes may also trigger more of these conflicts, for instance, heat or other flood extreme events or whatever other events may impact on the water availability of the future, that may deplete, it may also impact on land resources and food resources, so having less of that may trigger more conflicts," she said.
Sandholz said no country can escape the impacts of climate change, expressing hope that the international community can shelve differences and act swiftly.
Sandholz's remarks came as more than 7,000 government delegates and other stakeholders gathered in Bonn, Germany, for the UN June Climate Meetings.
Known as the 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or SB64, the annual June meetings are expected to advance technical and political work ahead of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), scheduled to take place in November in Antalya, Türkiye.
Running from June 8 to June 18, the Bonn meetings also discuss advancing implementation of outcomes from the first global stocktake at COP28, developing a just transition mechanism, and climate finance.
UN expert warns of more frequent extreme weather events, urges international action
