Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah spokesman, strike in Gaza kills 30

A rare Israeli strike in central Beirut killed the Hezbollah militant group's chief spokesman on Sunday while an Israeli strike in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya killed at least 30 people, a hospital director there told AP.

Mohammed Afif al-Naboulsi was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party's office in Beirut, Hezbollah confirmed in a statement. Afif had been especially visible after an all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September.

It was the latest targeted killing of senior Hezbollah officials. On Sunday night, another strike in central Beirut hit a computer shop, killing two people and wounding 22, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. There was no immediate comment from Israel's military for either strike.

 

The strikes happened as Lebanese officials considered a US-led ceasefire proposal. "This confirms the crimes of the Israeli enemy, and that it wants to negotiate under fire and is expanding and targeting safe and safer areas," said a Lebanese member of parliament, Faisal Al Sayegh.

Israel also bombed several buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection that killed Afif. Four people were killed and 14 wounded including two children, the Health Ministry said.

"I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire," said witness Suheil Halabi.

After the second strike in central Beirut, firefighters struggled to control the blaze in the busy residential neighbourhood of Mar Elias. Bystanders said they heard a second explosion and a car nearby appeared to be hit.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated.

Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on October 1. On Sunday, Israel's military said mobile artillery batteries had crossed into Lebanon and began attacking Hezbollah targets, the first time artillery was launched within Lebanese territory.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah has fired dozens of projectiles into Israel daily. The attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee. Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said a teenager suffered blast injuries on Sunday in Upper Galilee.

Lebanon's army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military centre in southeastern Al-Mari, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

The director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Hosam Abu Safiya, said dozens were wounded in the Israeli strike and other people likely were under the rubble in Gaza.

Fleeing residents told AP that houses were hit. An Israeli military statement earlier said it conducted several strikes on "terrorist targets" in Beit Lahiya, and that efforts to evacuate civilians from the "active war zone" continued.

Israeli forces have again been on the offensive in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped.

"Tonight we did not sleep at all," said one fleeing Beit Lahiya resident, Dalal al-Bakri. "They destroyed all the houses around us. ... There are many martyrs."  Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed six people in Nuseirat and four in Bureij, two built-up refugee camps in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

Two people were killed in a strike on Gaza's main north-south highway, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Israel's military said two soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Sunday.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people -- mostly civilians -- and abducting around 250 others. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.

On Sunday, Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency said it met with the heads of the army and intelligence to discuss mediation efforts to release the hostages. It was the first public word of any such effort since Qatar announced earlier this month it was suspending its mediation work.

Gaza's Health Ministry says around 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the dead.

Around 90 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced, and large areas have been flattened by Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel's attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released on Sunday from an upcoming book.