Lebanon accuses Israel of rejecting truce after Beirut strikes

BEIRUT

Lebanon's prime minister accused Israel on Friday of rejecting a ceasefire after the Israeli military bombed Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold for the first time this week.

In Gaza, where Israel has been engaged in a major offensive in the north for nearly a month, a Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group had rejected a proposal for a short-term truce.

United Nations chiefs called the situation in northern Gaza "apocalyptic" and warned that the entire population there was at risk of death.

Israel has been fighting a two-front war since late September, against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas, which triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

At least 10 strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs before dawn after Israel issued evacuation warnings.

"The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were leveled," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Lebanon's health ministry later said 52 people were killed and 72 wounded in Israeli strikes on Friday in the country's eastern Baalbek-Hermel region, attacks for which the Israeli army had not issued evacuation warnings.

The NNA also reported strikes on Bint Jbeil, Tyre, and Nabatieh in the south.

The Israeli military said it was continuing operations against both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Beirut suburbs hit 

The strikes on Lebanon came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war against Hezbollah, ahead of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli attacks.

He said the renewed bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs and strikes on other areas "confirm the Israeli enemy's rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire."

In Baalbek, smoke rose from the remains of a house in the city's Douris neighborhood after Israeli warplanes carried out strikes there on Thursday and Friday.

"The place that was bombed is a residential area. Our neighbor is a woman with a disability. She was injured while at home," said Jaafar Durra, pointing to a flattened building.

Baalbek boasts Roman temples that UNESCO has designated as a World Heritage site, and the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, warned the war has put the country's cultural heritage site in "deep peril."

Thais killed 

On Thursday, Netanyahu told U.S. envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any ceasefire deal with Hezbollah must guarantee Israel's long-term security. Both have since left for Washington, a source familiar with the matter said.

A U.S.-brokered plan reportedly under consideration would see Hezbollah pull back 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, north of the Litani River, with Israeli forces withdrawing and the Lebanese army patrolling the border alongside U.N. peacekeepers.

Thailand's foreign minister said four farm workers killed by rocket fire on northern Israel on Thursday were Thais. They were among a total of seven people who were killed by two separate barrages, a local official and medics said.

Since fighting in Lebanon escalated on Sept. 23, after nearly a year of tit-for-tat exchanges which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas, Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,911 people in Lebanon, according to health ministry figures.

Israel's military says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since it began ground operations on September 30.

The World Health Organization expressed deep concern about Israeli attacks on health care workers and facilities in Lebanon, stressing they are "not a target."

The war has drawn in Iran-backed groups around the Middle East and has seen Israel and Iran attack each other.

Late Friday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted seven drones launched the previous night from "several fronts," without specifying where they came from.

On Oct. 26, Israel bombed military targets in Iran, killing four servicemen, in retaliation for the Islamic Republic's barrage of around 200 missiles against Israel on Oct. 1.

Analysts say Israel inflicted severe damage on Iranian air defenses and missile capacities and could yet launch more wide-scale action against Iran.

'Under siege' 

In north Gaza, the Israeli military said it "eliminated" dozens of militants in Jabalia.

AFPTV images from the adjacent district of Beit Lahia showed men using blankets to carry apparently dead bodies through streets piled with garbage after an Israeli strike.

Gaza's health ministry earlier reported at least nine dead in strikes on Jabalia and the central Gaza area of Nuseirat.

"The situation unfolding in north Gaza is apocalyptic," said a joint statement by the heads of U.N. agencies.

"The area has been under siege for almost a month, denied basic aid and life-saving supplies while bombardment and other attacks continue."

Separately, the WHO said a second round of child polio vaccinations would begin in north Gaza on Saturday, after Israeli bombing halted the drive.

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