Heavy consecutive strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, while at least 26 were killed in an Israeli air strike on a mosque in central Gaza early on Sunday.
“Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat area”, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon’s National news agency said.
Correspondents in Beirut reported hearing explosions, and footage from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas.
Elsewhere, at least 26 people have been reported killed in the strike on a school and mosque in Gaza. Witnesses and a nearby hospital told news agencies that the mosque was being used to house displaced people.
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The Israeli military said it was being used as a Hamas command centre.
The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, came as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory approaches its first anniversary on October 7th.
Israel has issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians in the north of the strip. On Sunday morning it said two evacuation routes from northern Gaza have been reopened to allow for people to move to the southern “humanitarian zone”: one along the Salah al-Din road and the other along the Al-Rashid coastal road.
At least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7th, according to latest figures released by Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
The latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon come after days of Israeli bombing of Beirut suburbs considered strongholds for the Iran-backed armed group Hizbullah, killing its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and possibly his potential successor.
A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor, had been out of contact since Friday, after an Israeli air strike near the city’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him.
An Israel military spokesperson said on Saturday the country would retaliate against Iran for the recent Iranian missile attack at “the timing which we decide”.
Iran said any attack by Israel would be met with an “even stronger” retaliation, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was a “disgrace” for calling for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel.
“The axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this [axis] call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace,” Mr Netanyahu said. “Well let me tell you this Israel will win with or without their support but their shame will continue long after the war is won.”
Mr Macron’s office responded with a statement of its own later Saturday, describing Mr Netanyahu’s reaction as “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel”. It said France was still “a steadfast friend of Israel”. – Guardian