Fact Check: Lebanese PM’s War Crimes Allegation After Majdal Zoun Strike

The Israeli strike in Majdal Zoun killed three rescue workers, contributing to at least eight deaths across Lebanon on Tuesday, but the claim that Israeli attacks since March 2 have caused exactly 2,534 deaths and 7,863 wounded cannot be verified.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of committing a war crime after an Israeli strike killed three civil‑defence rescuers who were helping victims of an earlier strike in the town of Majdal Zoun. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said two successive Israeli strikes on a building there killed five people, including the three rescuers.

Multiple news outlets, including Yahoo, Reuters via AOL, and Daily Sabah, reported the same casualty figure, citing the Lebanese Ministry of Health as their source. The ministry also stated that at least eight people were killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon on the same Tuesday, a number echoed by New Arab and Daily Sabah.

Regarding the broader toll, Lebanese officials have said that more than 2,500 people have been killed since March 2, but none of the checked sources provided the exact numbers of 2,534 deaths and 7,863 wounded.

The first two claims — that the Majdal Zoun strike killed three rescue workers and that at least eight people died nationwide on Tuesday — are true based on consistent reporting from independent outlets and the health ministry. The claim about the precise cumulative death and injury toll since March 2 is unverifiable because the available sources only give a rounded estimate of "more than 2,500" killed without specifying the exact figures.

This means the prime minister’s accusation of a war crime rests on verified facts about the strike, while the wider casualty statistics cited remain uncertain. Observers should watch for any international investigations into the Majdal Zoun incident and for updates from Lebanese health authorities on the overall casualty count.