Powerful new explosions rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombing in Lebanon, also hitting a Palestinian refugee camp deep north for the first time, targeting Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the expanding conflict in the region, while marches were held around the world to mark the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
The powerful explosions began near midnight after the Israeli army urged residents to evacuate areas in the Haret Hreik, Choueifat and Burj el-Barajneh neighborhoods in Beirut.
An Associated Press video showed the explosions highlighting the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. These attacks came after a day of sporadic strikes and the almost constant buzzing of reconnaissance drones.
The Israeli army confirmed that it struck targets near Beirut and said that about 30 missiles crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, and some of them were intercepted.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the Israeli attack on the northern Beddawi camp earlier on Saturday led to the killing of an official in the military wing of Hamas, his wife, and his two daughters. Hamas later said that another member of its military wing was killed in Israeli raids in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.
The aftermath of the accident showed broken buildings, scattered bricks and stairs leading nowhere.
Israel has killed many Hamas officials in Lebanon since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, in addition to most of the senior leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah, as the fighting escalated sharply.
At least 1,400 Lebanese were killed, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, and 1.2 million were displaced from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to move the armed group away from the shared border so that displaced Israelis can return to their homes.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets at Israel immediately after the Hamas attack on October 7, describing it as a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and the Israeli army exchange fire almost daily.
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Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon after a series of attacks that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others.
The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a short war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in ground clashes, which Israel says killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters in Damascus: “We are trying to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.” The minister said that the unnamed countries that put forward initiatives include regional countries and some outside the Middle East.
Araqchi spoke a day after Iran’s supreme leader praised its recent missile strikes on Israel and said he was ready to do so again if necessary.
On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Israel has the duty and right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so.”
Regarding Lebanon, he said: “We are not finished yet.”
Fleeing Lebanon on foot
The Israeli army said earlier today, Saturday, that about 90 shells were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several landed in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were slightly injured.
At least six people were killed in Lebanon in more than a dozen Israeli air strikes overnight and into Saturday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria in less than two weeks, according to the Lebanese government committee.
Associated Press journalists watched as hundreds continued to cross the Masnaa border crossing on foot, trampling through rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. It is believed that most of Hezbollah’s weapons come from Iran via Syria.
“We have been on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now returning. “The roads were very crowded… It was very difficult. We almost died getting here.” Some children whimper or cry.
Other displaced families are now taking refuge alongside Beirut’s famous seaside corniche, where their tents flapping in the wind are located just steps from luxury homes. Umm Ali Mashik said: “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu.”
The Israeli army said that special forces carried out ground raids on Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon. She said that the forces dismantled the tunnel corridors that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.
More evacuation orders in Gaza
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Ministry of Health there, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced amid widespread destruction.
Palestinian medical officials said that Israeli raids on northern and central Gaza on Saturday killed at least nine people. An attack in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five people, including two children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Al Awda Hospital said another missile hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.
An Israeli airstrike killed two children in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to a civil defense first responders group that operates under the Hamas-run government.
The Israeli army warned the Palestinians of the need to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of the obstacles to reaching a ceasefire agreement. The army asked people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to the coastal Al-Mawasi area, which the army designated as a humanitarian zone.
It is unclear how many Palestinians are in those areas. Israeli forces often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regrouped.
& Version 2024 The Associated Press
