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.”
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Israel strikes south Beirut, prompting Lebanese appeal to ceasefire guarantors
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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
Gazans fear renewed displacement after Israeli strikes
- When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer
KHAN YUNIS: When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer.
In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10.
Residents say the strikes have targeted neighborhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework, accusing Hamas militants of “crossing the Yellow Line and carrying out terrorist activities.”
More than two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints.
Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line.
“We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40.
“My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.”
Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins.
“Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said.
Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them.
There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting.
“There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
- ‘We will not leave’ -
The Israeli military blames continued threats from Hamas militants for its actions in the area.
“The IDF’s current operations in Gaza, and their deployment in the Yellow Line area in particular, are carried out to address direct threats from terrorist organizations in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement to AFP.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The vast majority of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations.
Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.
Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border line” with Israel.
“The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza.
For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement.
“The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa Al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area.
“It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said.
“Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.”
For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure.
Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children.
“We will not leave... this is our land,” he said.
“Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.”
In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10.
Residents say the strikes have targeted neighborhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework, accusing Hamas militants of “crossing the Yellow Line and carrying out terrorist activities.”
More than two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints.
Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line.
“We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40.
“My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.”
Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins.
“Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said.
Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them.
There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting.
“There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
- ‘We will not leave’ -
The Israeli military blames continued threats from Hamas militants for its actions in the area.
“The IDF’s current operations in Gaza, and their deployment in the Yellow Line area in particular, are carried out to address direct threats from terrorist organizations in Gaza,” the Israeli military said in a statement to AFP.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The vast majority of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations.
Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.
Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border line” with Israel.
“The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza.
For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement.
“The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa Al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area.
“It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said.
“Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.”
For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure.
Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children.
“We will not leave... this is our land,” he said.
“Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.”
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