Lebanon, Gaza hit by deadly Israeli strikes, 50 fatalities reported in 24 hours
No fewer than 50 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in the past 24 hours as tension continues to mount in the region.
A strike on Friday in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, killed at least 37 people, including three children and seven women, according to Health Minister Firas Abiad.
Reports say of the 68 wounded in the attack, 15 remain hospitalized for adequate medical treatment. Ali Harake, head of the rescue team working through the rubble, told Sky News that his team is still searching for 17 to 18 missing people, though he fears none have survived.
On Saturday evening, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel launched more “extensive” strikes in southern Lebanon, with “dozens” of aircraft and rocket launchers targeting “terrorist positions.” The strikes followed the “detection of Hezbollah preparing to fire toward Israeli territory,” according to Hagari.
Two apartment buildings in a densely populated southern Beirut neighbourhood collapsed in Friday’s strike, marking the deadliest attack on the city in decades.
Top Hezbollah commanders were reportedly meeting in one of the buildings’ basements when they were struck. Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of two senior commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, while an Israeli military spokesperson said at least 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned the killing of Aqil, calling it a “crime” and a “folly,” and warned that Israel would “pay the price.”
Violence along the Israel-Lebanon border intensified earlier in the week, resulting in the deaths of Israeli soldiers with several others reportedly injured.
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of the “serious risk of a dramatic escalation” and called on all parties to “exercise maximum restraint”.
“Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,” he told reporters.
