Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon have killed at least 60 people and injured around 58, according to the country’s health ministry.

The strikes targeted a number of towns and cities, including in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where at least 34 people died.

In the town of Sahl Allak in Baalbeck province, 16 people were killed, with the death toll still expected to rise as rescue operations continue, according to the National News Agency.

In Ramm, also in Baalbeck, an Israeli airstrike killed nine people, including a mother and her four children, and left another person injured, according to NNA.

Another strike on the outskirts of the Gouraud barracks camp in Baalbeck province, where some Palestinian refugees live, claimed six lives and injured 17 others.

In Hellaniyeh, two people were killed and eight wounded, while in Younine, also in Baalbeck, two more people were killed and six others were wounded, NNA reported.

It comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed his Lebanese counterpart to London on Monday and offered his condolences for the deaths of citizens killed in Israeli attacks.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that more than 2,700 people have been killed and nearly 12,600 injured in a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. A quarter of those killed were women and children.

Starmer and Prime Minister Najib Mikati agreed that an immediate ceasefire was needed to protect civilians and critical infrastructure, according to a report of the meeting provided by Starmer’s office.

“Regarding the wider regional conflict, the prime minister stressed the need for all sides to de-escalate and work towards a long-term sustainable peace in the Middle East,” a spokesman for Starmer said.

The meeting came after Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, told British MPs that his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, had said the military effort in Lebanon would end soon.