BEIRUT: A powerful airstrike killed 15 people in central Beirut and 13 others were killed in attacks northeast of the Lebanese capital, while around 120 Palestinians were killed as Israel continued its offensive in Gaza and in Lebanon.
Eight of the victims, including four children, were killed in a strike on the Lebanese village of Chimstar and five people died in an attack on the village of Bodai, the ministry said. Both villages are in the Baalbek district.
In Beirut, an eight-story building was hit by four missiles, including bunker-penetrating missiles designed to hit underground targets, a Lebanese security source said.
At the site of the Israeli attack in central Beirut, Amin Chirri, a member of parliament, said there were no Hezbollah leaders in the building that was struck.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
Saturday’s explosions shook the Lebanese capital around 4 a.m. and left a deep crater. Beirut smelled strongly of explosives for hours.
Rescuers searched through the rubble, in an area of the city known for its antique shops.
This is the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, unlike the bulk of Israeli attacks on the capital region.
“There was dust and destroyed houses, people were running and screaming, they were running, my wife is in the hospital, my daughter is in the hospital, my aunt is in the hospital,” said Nemir Zakariya , who held up a photo of his daughter after the strike.
“It’s the little one, and my son was also injured – that’s my daughter, she’s at the American University (of Beirut Medical Center), that’s what happened.”
Separately, at least five people were killed and two injured in an Israeli strike on the village of Roum, in southern Lebanon, on Saturday.
Israeli strikes killed at least 62 people and injured 111 in Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the toll in 13 months to 3,645 dead and 15,355 injured, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing killing civilians. Israel denies the allegation and says it takes numerous measures to prevent civilian deaths and accuses Hezbollah of using human shields.
120 killed in 48 hours
On the other hand, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 120 Palestinians in the past 48 hours and hit a hospital on the northern edge of the enclave, injuring medical staff and damaging equipment, Palestinian doctors said on Saturday.
The dead included seven members of a family whose house was hit overnight in the Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun, health officials said. The others were killed in separate Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.
At the same time, Israeli forces have intensified their incursion and bombardment on the northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month.
A Hamas spokesman said an Israeli prisoner held by the group was killed in a northern area attacked by Israeli forces.
“The life of another prisoner who was with her remains in imminent danger,” added spokesperson Abou Ubaida, accusing the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An Israeli military spokesperson said it was investigating the Hamas report.
Depopulation zone
Local residents say they fear that the Israeli goal is to permanently depopulate a strip of territory serving as a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on Gaza’s northern edge that is barely operational, director Hussam Abu Safiya said ongoing Israeli bombardments in the area appeared aimed at forcing staff hospital to evacuate – something they have refused to do since the start of the war. the incursion has begun.
Israeli forces’ attacks in Gaza, which lasted 13 months, killed more than 44,000 people and displaced almost the entire population of the enclave at least once, according to Gaza officials.
