Deadly Israeli raid in Beirut, one dead in rocket fire on Israel

The Israeli army struck the center of Beirut again on Monday, at least five dead, at the time when A rocket attack by Lebanese Hezbollah has claimed the life of a woman in Israel, a war that shows no signs of abating.

Israel is also at war with the Palestinian Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, where raids have killed at least eight Palestinians according to the Civil Defense.

Israel says it wants to incapacitate Hezbollah and Hamas, allies of its arch-enemy Iran. It vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist movement attacked its soil on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, and is seeking to halt rocket fire by Lebanon's Hezbollah into its territory.

In the evening, at least five people were killed in a strike on the densely populated neighborhood of Zokak el-Blatt, which is home to displaced people from Hezbollah strongholds pounded by Israel, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

The area hit is located about 400 meters from the Grand Serail, the prime minister's headquarters, and near an area where embassies are located. Ambulances, sirens blaring, rushed to the scene of the strike.

“An enemy drone targeted the area around the Al-Zahraa Husseiniyeh (Shiite place of worship),” the National News Agency (ANI) said.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in the village of Mansouri in the Tyre region of southern Lebanon on November 18, 2024 © AFP – KAWNAT HAJU

On Sunday, two Israeli strikes killed 10 people in central Beirut, according to authorities. One of them killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif and four other members of his media team.

After the strikes, the Education Ministry ordered schools in Beirut to close on Monday and Tuesday.

– Rockets on Israel –

Mourners stand around the coffin of Hezbollah leader Mohammad Afif, who was killed by Israel, during his funeral in Sidon, southern Lebanon, on November 18, 2024 © AFP – Mahmoud ZAYYAT

Hezbollah, whose leadership has been largely decimated by the Israeli army, continues to fire rockets daily into Israel and says it is pushing its army back into southern Lebanon, where it launched a ground offensive on September 30.

About 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Monday, according to the Israeli army. A woman was killed in a rocket fall in Shfaram (north), according to firefighters.

The Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, indicated that ten wounded had been evacuated from the building hit by the rocket.

After a year of cross-border violence and after weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel launched intense bombings on the strongholds of Lebanese Hezbollah on September 23.

It says it wants to push the movement away from the border regions in southern Lebanon and ensure the return home of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by Hezbollah's almost daily gunfire for over a year.

Palestinians queue to receive bread in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on November 18, 2024 © AFP – BASHAR TALEB

Since October 8, 2023, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon according to the Health Ministry, the majority since September 23. On the Israeli side, 46 civilians and 78 soldiers were killed.

In Lebanon, tens of thousands of residents were also displaced.

– “Very positive” –

Regarding a proposed American truce between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese official said that the authorities in Beirut had a “very positive” position and were finalizing their “remarks” before transmitting their response to the United States.

A man walks past a large billboard in Jerusalem displaying portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, November 18, 2024 © AFP – HAZEM BADER

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated Monday that his army “will conduct operations” against Hezbollah even in the event of a truce agreement, an option rejected in advance by the Hezbollah.

Created and financed by Iran, Hezbollah is the only faction in Lebanon to have kept its weapons after the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990). It is accused by its detractors of constituting a “state within a state”.

– “They were screaming” –

On the southern front of Israel, in the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes left eight dead, including four members of the same family, in the Al-Mawassi displaced persons camp (south), according to the Civil Defense.

“There was a powerful explosion, which caused a fire, and then there was chaos. Women and children were screaming,” said a witness, Said Al-Burai.

Raids targeted a building that was destroyed in Gaza City (north), a rescue worker said.

Palestinian civilians and rescue workers carry a body, which they covered with a white sheet after removing it from the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, November 18, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

On October 7, 2023, commandos infiltrated into southern Israel from the neighboring Gaza Strip carried out an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity.

That day, 251 people were kidnapped. A total of 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army.

In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a massive bombing campaign followed by a ground offensive in Gaza, which left at least 43,922 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. Almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced in this territory in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

© AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

Considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew from the territory which he held for 38 years.

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