BEIRUT: Israel struck south Beirut on Sunday for the third time since a fragile November 27 ceasefire, prompting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to call on its guarantors France and the United States to force a halt.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike targeted a building used by Hezbollah to store “precision-guided missiles” and vowed to stop the Iran-backed militant group using Beirut’s southern suburbs as a “safe haven.”
An AFP correspondent saw a plume of smoke rising over the building in the Hadath neighborhood after the strike.
Lebanese television channels broadcast images of a fire around the hangar-like building.
The Israeli military had earlier issued a warning to civilians to evacuate the densely populated neighborhood.
“An urgent warning for those in the southern suburbs of Beirut, especially in the Hadath neighborhood: Anyone present in the building marked in red on the attached map as well as the surrounding buildings, is near Hezbollah facilities,” said military spokesman Avichay Adraee on X, adding: “You must evacuate.”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will not allow Hezbollah to grow stronger and create any threat against it — anywhere in Lebanon.”
“The Dahiyeh neighborhood in Beirut will not serve as a safe haven for the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” it vowed, using the Arabic name for the southern suburbs.
In a later statement, the military said that “the storage of missiles in this infrastructure site constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
But the Lebanese president condemned the strike as a new breach of the November 27 ceasefire and urged its guarantors to put a stop to Israel’s continual attacks.
Aoun called on “the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement, to assume their responsibilities and compel Israel to halt its attacks immediately.”
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, appealed to all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire.
“Today’s strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy,” she said in a post.
“We urge all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the cessation of hostilities understanding.”
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon also has a seat on the ceasefire monitoring committee, alongside France and the United States and the Israeli and Lebanese governments.
The south Beirut strike was not Israel’s only operation against targets inside Lebanon on Sunday.
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli drone strike on the border town of Halta killed one person.
Lebanese media reported that a man was killed while working on his chicken farm. The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah militant.
Israel has continued to carry out repeated strikes in Lebanon despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.
Under the November deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but troops remain in five positions that it deems “strategic.”
Israel strikes south Beirut, prompting Lebanese appeal to ceasefire guarantors
https://arab.news/z5b28
Israel strikes south Beirut, prompting Lebanese appeal to ceasefire guarantors
- Lebanese television channels broadcast images of a fire around the hangar-like building
- Lebanese president condemned the strike as a new breach of the November 27 ceasefire and urged its guarantors to put a stop to Israel’s continual attacks
Israel fires mortar into Gaza residential area, wounding at least 10
- The attack is the latest Israeli attack since the Oct. 10 ceasefire took effect
- Palestinian health officials have reported over 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce
JERUSALEM: Israeli troops fired a mortar shell over the ceasefire line into a Palestinian residential area in the Gaza Strip, in the latest incident to rock the tenuous ceasefire with Hamas. Health officials said at least 10 people were wounded, and the army said it was investigating.
The military said the mortar was fired during an operation in the area of the “Yellow Line,” which was drawn in the ceasefire agreement and divides the Israeli-held majority of Gaza from the rest of the territory.
The military did not say what troops were doing or whether they had crossed the line. It said the mortar had veered from its intended target, which it did not specify.
Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, said the hospital received 10 people wounded in the strike on central Gaza City, some critically.
It was not the first time since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10 that Israeli fire has caused Palestinian casualties outside the Yellow Line. Palestinian health officials have reported over 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce.
Israel has said it has opened fire in response to Hamas violations, and says most of those killed have been Hamas militants. But an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol, said the army is aware of a number of incidents where civilians were killed, including young children and a family traveling in a van.
Palestinians say civilians have been killed in some cases because the line is poorly marked. Israeli troops have been laying down yellow blocks to delineate it, but in some areas the blocks have not yet been placed.
Ceasefire’s next phase
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is struggling to reach its next phase, with both sides accusing each other of violations. The first phase involved the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The second is supposed to involve the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.
The remains of one hostage, Ran Gvili, are still in Gaza, and the militants appear to be struggling to find it. Israel is demanding the return of Gvili’s remains before moving to the second phase.
Hamas is calling for more international pressure on Israel to open key border crossings, cease deadly strikes and allow more aid into the strip. Recently released Israeli military figures suggest it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.
Humanitarian groups say the lack of aid has had harsh effects on most of Gaza’s residents. Food remains scarce as the territory struggles to bounce back from famine, which affected parts of Gaza during the war.
The toll of war
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced. Most live in vast tent camps or among the shells of damaged buildings.
The initial Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Almost all hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 70,660 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
