A building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the Basta neighborhood in central Beirut, where rescuers search through the rubble, November 23, 2024 (AFP / Fadel ITANI)
More than 50 people died on Saturday in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, notably in Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, affirming that his country would continue to act “with determination” against Hezbollah .
Israel says it wants to put Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, allies of Iran, its enemy, out of harm's way. He vowed to destroy Hamas after the unprecedented attack of this Islamist movement on its soil on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, and seeks to stop Hezbollah's rocket fire on its territory.
Before dawn, the residents of Beirut woke up to the sound of large explosions, after Israeli strikes which destroyed a building in the Basta district, in the heart of Beirut, causing a huge crater.
– Continuing research –
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported at least 15 deaths and 63 injured. Search operations are continuing to find victims under the rubble.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the strikes.
“We were sleeping and suddenly we heard three or four missiles. The strike was so powerful that I thought the building was going to collapse on us,” Samir, a resident of Basta, told AFP.
A Lebanese security source claimed that a “senior Hezbollah official was targeted” by the raid – without being able to say whether he had died – but a Hezbollah MP, Amin Cherri, denied that a leader of the movement was targeted in Basta.
In recent months, Israel has virtually decimated the leadership of the armed movement by killing several of its leaders.
Rescuers carry the body of a victim extracted from the rubble of a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the Basta neighborhood in central Beirut, November 23, 2024 (AFP / -)
Several Israeli strikes also targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, after calls to evacuate, according to the National News Agency (ANI).
In a statement, the Israeli army said it had targeted “Hezbollah command centers and other terrorist infrastructures” in the southern suburbs.
– “Act with determination” –
At least 38 people were also killed in Israeli strikes in eastern and southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
On October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas's attack on Israel, Hezbollah opened a “support front” for its Palestinian ally.
After a year of cross-border violence and after having weakened Hamas in Gaza, which was constantly bombarded, Israel moved the heart of the fighting to Lebanon by launching an intense bombing campaign from September 23 on Hezbollah strongholds.
On September 30, the Israeli army began a ground offensive in southern Lebanon. A soldier was seriously injured on Saturday in fighting in this region, according to her.
A cloud of smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, from where the runways of the Lebanese capital's international airport can be seen, on November 23, 2024 (AFP / IBRAHIM AMRO )
Since October 8, 2023, more than 3,640 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Health, most since September 23.
Israel says it wants to distance Hezbollah from the border areas of southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 inhabitants of the north of the country displaced by rocket fire.
In Lebanon, tens of thousands of residents have also been displaced.
American envoy Amos Hochstein visited Lebanon and Israel this week to try to obtain a cease-fire.
On Saturday, during a telephone conversation with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz affirmed that Israel would continue to “act with determination” against Hezbollah.
Mr. Austin reaffirmed that his country, Israel's main ally, was in favor of a “diplomatic solution in Lebanon.”
He also called on Israel to “improve the terrible humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, where the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants besieged by Israel for more than a year are threatened with famine according to the UN.
– “Let them kill us all!” –
Palestinians search through the rubble of a building after an Israeli strike, November 22, 2024 in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip (AFP / Omar AL-QATTAA)
In the Gaza Strip, located on Israel's southern border, the Israeli army carried out new bombings which killed 19 Palestinians, according to Civil Defense.
“Our life is nothing but misery. Let them kill us all to relieve us of this suffering,” exclaimed Oum Mohammad Abou Sabla, the sister of one of the victims killed in a strike in Khan Younes.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court which issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
This court also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, considered one of the masterminds of October 7, 2023. Israel announced that it had killed him in July in Gaza, but Hamas did not confirm his death.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the European Union and the United States.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza which left at least 44,176 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
A Palestinian woman and girl cry outside the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, where the victims of an Israeli strike on Nuseirat were transferred on November 21 2024 (AFP / Bashar TALEB)
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. That day, 251 people were kidnapped, 97 of whom remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.
The armed wing of Hamas announced on Saturday the death of a hostage in a combat zone in northern Gaza, a claim not confirmed by the Israeli army.
