Israel has launched strikes across Lebanon as part of its months-long campaign against Hezbollah, with at least 38 people killed in just one region.
Forty Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel region on Wednesday have killed 38 people and wounded 54, its governor Bachir Khodr said on X.
Further strikes were reported in south Beirut, a stronghold for Hezbollah, according to the AFP news service.
There was no immediate report on the number of casualties.
Smoke could be seen billowing over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike on Wednesday. (Reuters: Mohamed Azakir)
The attack happened shortly after Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem said he did not believe that “political action” would bring about an end to hostilities.
He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.
One of the strikes triggered a loud explosion which was heard across much of the capital, witnesses said.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had warned residents to evacuate the southern suburbs of Burj al-Barajneh, Laylaki and Haret Hreik in a post on X.
“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the (military) will act in the near future,” Mr Adraee said, as a speech by Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Qassem was being broadcast.
Earlier Wednesday, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in the east and the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
An AFP correspondent in the eastern city of Baalbek reported intense strikes in and around the city.
Israel’s army had issued evacuation warnings for some but not all of the regions hit on Wednesday.
The Israeli army said Hezbollah had fired about 120 projectiles across the border.
More than a year of clashes that escalated into war in September have killed at least 3,050 people in Lebanon, according to health ministry figures.
UN aid agency for Palestinians facing its ‘darkest hour’, agency boss says
The head of a United Nations agency delivering aid to Palestinians says the organisation is facing its “darkest hour” after the Israeli government’s decision to ban it.
Israel has accused employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of participating in the October 7 attacks by Hamas last year, which led to the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of over 200 more.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s central allegations.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini told the General Assembly on Wednesday implementing the ban would “have disastrous consequences”.
“Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” he said.
“In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 650,000 girls and boys in Gaza.
“In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education.”
Israel’s parliament approved a proposal to shut down UNRWA’s operations despite condemnation from the international community, including its ally the United States as well as Britain and Germany.
Washington warned Israel on October 15 that it had 30 days to increase the amount of aid reaching the Gaza Strip or it would consider withholding some military assistance to its key ally.
Polio vaccination drive in Gaza completed, Israeli military says
Meanwhile, the Israeli military on Wednesday said aid organisations had completed a second round of polio vaccinations in Gaza.
The drive to vaccinate children in Gaza began in early September after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a baby was partially paralysed by the virus.
It was the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years.
Children are required to have two doses of the vaccine to be fully immunised against polio. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)
On Tuesday, WHO representative Rik Peeperkorn said the mass evacuations from areas in northern Gaza where the Israeli military has been operating for more than a month, had made it difficult to estimate the number of children who might be missed in the north.
The Israeli military said after a humanitarian pause earlier this week, 1.1 million vaccinations had been administered in the enclave, achieving 90 per cent coverage.
The October 7 attack by Hamas has sparked an ongoing war between the terror organisation and the Israeli military, which has since spread to Lebanon.
AFP/Reuters