At least 7 killed in strike on Beirut's Nweiri
An Israeli strike on a Beirut building housing displaced people on Tuesday, killed at least three people, as raids formed "a belt of fire" around the capital's southern suburbs.
The strike levelled a building in the densely-populated area of Basta al-Fawqa, without a prior warning, the second strike in recent days in the crowded area near the city's downtown.
"The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-story building housing displaced people," Lebanon's National News Agency said.
At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Hezbollah lawmaker Amin Sherri told reporters that Israel wanted to take revenge on the Lebanese people, particularly the group's supporters, before a possible ceasefire.
"The Israeli enemy... seeks revenge on supporters of the resistance and on all Lebanese," Sherri told reporters at the site of the deadly strike.
Shortly after the Beirut strike, "a belt of fire encircled (Beirut's) southern suburbs, as raids targeted Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath, with smoke covering most of the southern suburbs and reaching Beirut," the NNA said.
The strikes come amid a flurry of Israeli evacuation calls for Beirut's southern suburbs, already pounded by strikes in the morning.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the southern Beirut suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the United Nations peacekeeping mission is headquartered.
The Beirut strike came hours before Israel's security Cabinet was scheduled to meet to vote on a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.