BEIRUT / GAZA: A month into its offensive, Israel bombarded the Leba­nese capital multiple times over the past 24 hours, following a late-night strike that killed at least 18 people near a key hospital.

Four strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, with footage showing plu­mes of smoke and dust rising over the area.

The strikes forced Hezbollah to cut short a press conference after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order for the area.

An Israeli strike hit a target several hundred metres (yards) away from the venue just minutes after reporters left, an AFP video journalist said.

Another attack in the Ghobeiri area levelled an 11-storey apartment complex.

Horrifying scenes in north Gaza as hordes of starving Palestinians are forcibly displaced

In the country’s south, the Lebanese Red Cross said three paramedics were wounded in a strike on Nabatiyeh as they carried out a rescue mission in coordination with UN peacekeepers.

The bombardment followed heavy shelling the previous day that killed a total of 63 people and wounded 234, including four children who were among the 18 people killed in the strike on Rafic Hariri Hospital, the country’s largest public health facility, located in the Jnah area, a few kilometres from the city centre.

There was no evacuation warning for the densely populated neighbourhood that has seen an influx of people displaced from areas further south.

Some parts of the hospital sustained damage in the strike, with windows shattered and solar panels destroyed, its director said. But the strike flattened four nearby buildings, and rescuers were still combing the rubble for survivors on Tuesday.

Exodus from north Gaza

Meanwhile, northern Gaza is witnessing horrific scenes with the mass enforced displacement of an entire population that has been suffering for the past 18 days — no food, no water supplies and no survival items to support their existence.

Al Jazeera reported scenes of people carrying white flags and going through checkpoints, while heavy bombardment continues around them.

The checkpoints are equipped with high-tech surveillance cameras and metal detectors. Quoting people who went through them, an Al Jazeera reporter said that many women and children were arrested at these checkpoints.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said four Palestinians were killed in strikes on Monday, while several homes were blown up in the northern area of Jabalia, a focus of the recent fighting.

The UN has warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, its figures showing that 396 aid trucks have entered the territory so far this month — far below the 3,003 seen in September.

A displaced resident said Jabalia “is bei­ng wiped out”.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2024