Live Updates: Israel kills many, wounds 33 in strike on Lebanon's Beirut

Saturday, November 23, 2024

03:00 GMT — Israel has fired at least four missiles in an air strike towards Lebanon's central Beirut, killing at least four people and wounding another 33, local media report, adding toll is feared to rise.

The strike targeted Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, local residents said, adding many buildings were destroyed.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israeli war planes "completely destroyed an eight-storey residential building with five missiles."

Sirens could be heard as ambulances raced to the scene of the blast in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon's Al Jadeed showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The strikes, which occurred around 4 am local time, came after a day of heavy bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the southern coastal city of Tyre.

02:00 GMT — Israel kills Lebanon hospital chief, wounds 9 medics in Gaza

Israel has targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of besieged Gaza, wounding nine medical staff and damaging its generator and oxygen systems, its director said.

Hossam Abu Safiya said strikes hit the entrance of the emergency unit as well as in the hospital courtyard. He said six staff were wounded, including two critically. Later, he said an armed drone hit the entrance again, wounding three staffers.

In Lebanon, Israel killed the director of a university hospital and six others at his home in northeastern area, state media said.

The strike targeted Dr. Ali Allam's house near Dar Al-Amal Hospital, the largest health center in Baalbek-Hermel province, which has provided vital health services amid Israel's air strikes, the Health Ministry said. State-run media reported that the strike came without warning.

The ministry described his death as a "great loss," and provincial governor Bachir Khodr said in a post on X that, "Mr. Allam was one of the best citizens of Baalbek."