Beirut: Israel bombed what it said were Hezbollah weapons facilities in southern Beirut after the Lebanese militant group fired rockets into northern Israel, and a drone was reported to have fired at the holiday home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu was not present at the time, and it was not immediately clear whether the building had been bombed. But he described it as an assassination attempt by Hezbollah and called it a “huge mistake” as Israel prepares to respond to an Iranian missile barrage earlier this month. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on any drone attack targeting Netanyahu’s vacation home.
The strikes came as medics and media affiliated with the Hamas movement in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting to eliminate the Palestinian armed group for more than a year, said that Israeli bombing had killed at least 73 people across the coastal enclave, and the siege had been tightened around three hospitals. . . In the southern suburb of Beirut, Israel carried out intensive strikes on several locations, causing thick columns of smoke to rise over the city until the evening.
The Israeli army said that the strikes targeted “a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and a command center for Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.”
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza last October. The Israeli army said that on Saturday alone, Hezbollah fired about 200 “shells.”
The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had destroyed tunnel corridors and underground infrastructure in southern Lebanon. The death toll from Israeli air strikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has risen to 2,448 people, while the number of wounded has reached 11,471, according to a report issued on Saturday.
The Israeli attack on Gaza has displaced most of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools. Another 20,000 people were forced to flee Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Friday as conflict continued in the Strip, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said on the social media platform X. It continues unabated.