Israel launched a deadly airstrike on central Beirut on Thursday, while its ground troops in Lebanon were accused of opening fire on a UN peacekeeping headquarters, wounding two.
The airstrike on Beirut, where an AFP journalist heard several loud explosions, was the third such attack on the center of the Lebanese capital since Israel stepped up its campaign last month.
“18 people were killed and 92 others were injured in Israeli enemy attacks on the capital Beirut this evening,” Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement.
A Lebanese security source, without giving further details, said that a “Hezbollah individual” had been targeted, following a series of assassinations of top officials in the Iran-backed movement.
AFP live TV footage showed two plumes of smoke rising from densely packed buildings, while there was no immediate comment from Israeli officials about the nature of the target.
Most Israeli attacks have targeted the South Beirut area, not the centre.
The attack came on the same day that UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon accused Israeli troops of “repeatedly” firing on its positions, including a tank, wounding two Indonesian Blue Helmets.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, whose country is a major contributor to the force, condemned the “hostile acts”, which he said “could constitute war crimes”, while Spain called it a “serious violation of international law”.
Washington said that while Israel targets Hezbollah facilities, “it is important that they do not threaten the security of UN peacekeepers.”
The Israeli military said it was taking action against Hezbollah militants near UNIFIL headquarters and had “instructed UN forces in the area to remain in safe locations.”
Israel has been attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon since September 23, killing more than 1,200 and displacing more than a million, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
Its ground forces entered Lebanon on September 30 with the aim of stopping Hezbollah’s cross-border firing in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7.
Hezbollah missile and artillery fire has forced thousands of Israelis to flee their homes near the border in the past year, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to fight until they return.
humanitarian law
The Lebanon operation is the second front for Israel’s expanded armed forces as they continue their campaign against Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israeli forces launched a major operation over the weekend in the north of the area around the Jabaliya refugee camp, where about 400,000 people are trapped, according to Philip Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was “incredibly concerned” as Israel tightened its siege.
“We are making clear to the Government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to deliver food, water and other essential humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza,” he said.
At least 28 people were killed and 54 injured in an Israeli attack on a school building in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Thursday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.
This is the latest of many such incidents.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack targeted Palestinian fighters who were operating from a command-and-control center “embedded inside a compound that previously served as a (Rafida) school”.
The Israeli military has accused Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have taken refuge – a charge the terrorist group denies.
UN investigators on Thursday also accused Israel of deliberately targeting health facilities and killing and torturing medical workers in Gaza.
Israel is “committing war crimes and the genocide of humanity with repeated and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities,” the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a statement.
deadly, precise
This Friday and Saturday ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Israelis are also preparing for the country’s response to last week’s missile attack from Iran, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran fired about 200 missiles in what it said was retaliation for the killing of two of its closest allies, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and an Iranian general.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Wednesday that “Our attack on Iran will be lethal, precise and stunning. They will not be able to understand what happened and how it happened.”
Biden has warned Israel against attempting to target Iran’s nuclear facilities and opposed attacks on oil installations.
“I don’t think we are currently in a situation where both countries are directly seeking war,” Hamid, a 29-year-old university student in Tehran, told AFP on Thursday.
“This will have serious economic and military consequences for both countries,” he said.
The Gaza war began on October 7 last year, when Hamas militants launched a cross-border attack in the worst attack in Israel’s history.
The militants took 251 hostages in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the war began, a figure the United Nations says is credible.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
