UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, put the death toll at six, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that two children were among the wounded.
Palestinian officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with their internal rules said the clashes had occurred after an unknown gunman attempted to assassinate Islamist militant Mahmoud Khalil, but killed a person accompanying him in his car. place.
Ein el-Hilweh is known for its lawlessness and violence is common. The UN says some 55,000 people live in the camp, which was established in 1948 to house Palestinians displaced by Israeli forces during the establishment of Israel.
On Sunday, factions erupted with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and lobbed hand grenades into the camp as ambulances sped through the narrow streets to take the wounded to hospital.
Some residents of the Sidon neighborhoods near the camp fled their homes as stray bullets hit buildings and smashed windows and shop windows. Sidon’s public General Hospital evacuated its staff and patients.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that a mortar shell hit a military barracks outside the camp, wounding one soldier, whose condition is stable.
UNRWA said two of its schools serving around 2,000 students were damaged in the clashes. It added that it suspended all its operations in Ein el-Hilweh.
Late in the day, the factions said in a joint statement that they had agreed to a ceasefire during a mediation meeting organized by the Lebanese Shiite movement Amal and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Sidon. But local media said the fighting continued. A spokesman for the Palestinian group Hamas told AP that the groups were working to implement the truce.
Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the clashes. “We call on the Palestinian leadership to cooperate with the army to control the security situation and hand over those who interfere with security to the Lebanese authorities,” Mikati said in his statement.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
