An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Hezbollah’s acting leader promised the group will fight on following the death of its long-time head Hassan Nasrallah.
The early Monday airstrike — the first to hit central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict — killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops.
Separately, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence — including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah — but had not hit locations near the city center.
Hezbollah’s acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group’s fighters are ready — noting that the commanders killed have already been replaced.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes on Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.
Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.
Here is the latest:
BEIRUT — A Lebanese army soldier suffered moderate injuries Monday when a motorcycle was targeted by an Israeli airstrike as it crossed an army checkpoint in the southern area of Wazzani, a Lebanese security official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters, said that at least 11 Lebanese army soldiers have been killed and 20 injured — most of them off duty and in their homes — since the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began nearly a year ago.
The Lebanese army, which has a limited arsenal and has been struggling to maintain its forces and equipment due to a protracted economic crisis, has so far stood on the sidelines in the fighting. It is not clear how the army would react if Israel launched a threatened ground invasion into Lebanon.
— By Abby Sewell
TEL AVIV — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday hinted at Israeli preparations for a ground offensive in Lebanon.
Speaking to troops of the 188 Armored brigade and the Golani Infantry brigade on the northern border, Gallant said, “The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have.”
He added, “If someone on the other side did not understand what the capabilities mean, it is all capabilities, and you are part of this effort.”
DEIR -AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza.
The strike early Monday hit a family home in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda hospital, where the casualties were taken.
The dead include a man, his two daughters and a grandchild, according to the hospital records.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli strike hit a house in the central town of Deir al-Balah, killing two children and their parents.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
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