Seven rescuers killed in Israeli strike on health center in central Beirut
Nine people were killed in an Israeli air raid on a Hezbollah rescue facility in the heart of Beirut late Wednesday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The airstrike in the residential Bashoura district targeted an apartment in a multi-story building that houses an office of the Islamic Health Organization, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah.
It was the closest strike to the central downtown district of Beirut, where the United Nations and government offices are located.
Seven paramedics were killed and several others were injured in the raid, the Islamic Health Organization said. The Health Ministry said a total of nine people were killed.
AFP journalists in Beirut heard a loud explosion and reported some building had shaken. The strike destroyed a floor in the building.
It was the second airstrike to hit central Beirut this week and the second to directly target the Islamic Health Organization in 24 hours. No Israeli warning was issued to the area before it was hit.
Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.
Israel has mostly concentrated its airstrikes in south and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence, but its attacks have spanned the entire country and killed many civilians.
- Banned phosphorous bombs -
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following the attack, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using internationally banned phosphorous bombs. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in conflict-hit southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in central Beirut or the allegations it used phosphorous bombs.
- Toll rises to 1,928 -
Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw heavy bombardment overnight.
Israel launched three air raids on Beirut's southern suburbs just before midnight Wednesday. The explosions were audible kilometers away.
Residents in multiple parts of densely-populated southern Beirut were told by the Israeli military to leave the area in the early hours of Thursday, in an order published on social media.
The Lebanese health ministry said late Wednesday that 46 people were killed and 85 others injured by "enemy Israeli strikes" across the country over the past 24 hours.
Lebanon's disaster management agency said earlier that 1,928 people have been killed since Israel and Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire after the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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