IDF confirms Lebanon strike targeting Hamas facility; local officials say 11 killed

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon this evening, saying it targeted terror operatives at a Hamas training facility.

The Lebanese health ministry says that the casualty count from the strike stands at 11 killed and four wounded.

According to the IDF, the “military compound” was used by Hamas operatives for training “in order to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

The military says it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including by using “a precision munition, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

“The IDF is operating against Hamas’s entrenchment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate,” the military adds.

The strike marks a relatively rare case of an Israeli attack on the Palestinian terror group in Lebanon.

In July, a prominent Hamas commander was killed in a strike in Tripoli, and before that, in May, another commander in the group was killed in Sidon.

An IDF strike against a Hamas training facility in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, Lebanon, on November 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.