Seven 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.
Seven paramedics were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli raid targeting Bashoura, a district in the center of the capital, the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Organization said.
AFP journalists in Beirut heard a loud explosion and reported some building had shaken in the second strike targeting the capital's center this week.
The strike destroyed a floor in the building.
- 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.
- Toll rises to 1,928 -
Israel launched three air raids on Beirut's southern suburbs just before midnight Wednesday, a source close to Hezbollah said, the third wave of strikes in the past 24 hours. 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.
