At least 22 people killed in deadliest Israeli strike on central Beirut since start of war, officials say

Strike on central Beirut is deadliest since start of war

At least 22 people were killed after Israeli airstrikes hit residential areas of central Beirut on Thursday evening, making them the deadliest attacks to target central Beirut since the start of the war.

Wafiq Safa, a top Hezbollah security official, eluded an Israeli assassination attempt on Thursday in Beirut, Reuters reported citing three security sources, as UN said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon were in growing danger.

The Israeli strikes hit a densely packed residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and shops in working class districts in the heart of Beirut. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.

More from Reuters:

The number of casualties rose quickly, and as midnight approached the Lebanese Health Ministry reported 22 people killed and 117 wounded. Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south.

After Israel killed a series of top Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including top leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safa was among the few surviving senior figures as the group’s upper echelons struggled to reorganise.

The attempt to kill Safa, whose role merges security and political affairs, marked a widening of targeting of Hezbollah officials by Israel, which had so far focused on the group’s military commanders and top leaders.

Lebanese civil defense and emergency teams conduct a search and rescue operation following the Israeli airstrike on the Nowayri area of Beirut. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Al Jazeera reporter Laura Khan, meanwhile, describes scenes of chaos in central Beirut.

The hospitals have asked for no one to come and donate blood at the moment because they are already overwhelmed, so having more people come in to donate is just going to push them even further.

I was about a kilometre and a half (about 1 mile) away when the attack occurred. I heard a very deep rumble.

People outside told our colleagues that they saw streaks in the sky and, of course, big explosions.

We know that people were running and screaming in these neighbourhoods, absolutely traumatised.

Key events

This blog has now closed. You can read our latest report from the region here and all our Middle East coverage here.

Some more eyewitness accounts are filtering out from central Beirut, after the Israeli strikes that killed at least 22 people.

From AFP:

In the working-class district of Basta, whose inhabitants are largely Sunni and Shiite Muslim, two old buildings of three or four floors had collapsed.

Around a kilometre away (less than a mile), a Beirut resident was still reeling from the terrifying sound of the blast.

“I’m not scared usually, but it was like an earthquake,” she said, adding that she wanted to flee the area.

Hassan Jaber, who lives in a nearby building, said he was wounded in the hand and leg.

“I went out to throw out the rubbish, opened the door of the lift and the strike hit” and he was propelled to the ground, he said.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that people could be seen overwhelmed with grief outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center, where some of the casualties of Thursday night’s strikes on the city centre were being treated.

Outside the emergency ward, an elderly woman rocked back and forth with a dazed look in her eyes.

A man came to her with terrible news: “Abbas’s son and daughter are martyrs,” he said, his hand on her shoulder. “Thank God for everything. Don’t forget to say thank God for everything.”

A few moments later, the woman burst into tears.

Two witnesses told CNN they saw an entire building collapse from one of tonight’s strikes in central Beirut, saying the structure was full of recently displaced people and residents.

“The bomb hit. And the entire building fell down,” one of the witnesses, Hassan, told CNN outside a hospital near Beirut’s Upper Basta neigborhood. “There were so many people in the building. Not just the residents but also people who were displaced from other parts of the country,” he said.

There continues to be an outpouring of outrage after the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said on Thursday that Israeli forces had deliberately fired on its positions, injuring two peacekeepers from Indonesia.

The Israeli military confirmed its troops opened fire in the area of the UN peacekeeping mission’s base, claiming that Hezbollah fighters operate from within and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near Unifil posts. Unifil said in a statement that any attack on peacekeepers is a “grave violation of international humanitarian law”.

The safety and security of the UN’s more than 10,400 peacekeepers in Lebanon are “increasingly in jeopardy” and operations have virtually halted since late September, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council.

Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces on Thursday as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit.

In New York, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said Israel was focused on fighting Hezbollah and recommended Unifil relocate 5 km (3 miles) north “to avoid danger as fighting intensifies”.

The United States said it was deeply concerned by reports that Israeli forces fired on UN positions and was pressing Israel for details.

“We understand Israel is conducting targeted operations near the Blue Line to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure that could be used to threaten Israeli citizens,” a White House spokesperson said, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. “While they undertake these operations, it is critical that they not threaten UN peacekeepers’ safety and security.”

Two peacekeepers sustained non-serious injuries but remain in hospital after an Israeli tank fired toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall, UNIFIL stated on 10 October. Photograph: EPA

France’s foreign ministry said it “expresses its deep concern following the Israeli shots that hit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and condemns any attack on the security of UNIFIL.”

Turkey’s foreign ministry said: “Israel’s attack on UN forces, following its massacres against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished.”

Israel’s military said in a statement its troops operated in the Naqoura area, “next to a UNIFIL base.”

“Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,” Israel’s statement said, adding it maintains routine communication with UNIFIL.

Italy’s defense minister defined the recent Israeli attacks on U.N. peacekeeping bases in southern Lebanon as possible “war crimes” and “very serious violations” of international laws Thursday.

Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto said he has asked for a formal explanation from Israeli authorities on the attacks on Unifil bases, which he said “were not an accident nor a mistake”, AP reports.

“We won’t accept the justification that Israeli military forces had previously alerted UNIFIL that some of its bases had to be abandoned,” Crosetto said.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, also sharply condemned Israeli strikes on the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon as “an inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.”

“Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon,” he wrote on social media platform X.

Jordan’s foreign ministry also denounced the Israeli strikes on the U.N. base as a “dangerous escalation” and “flagrant violation of international law.”

Strike on central Beirut is deadliest since start of war

Summary of the day so far

It’s 1am in Beirut, Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

At least 22 people were killed and more than 100 others injured after Israeli airstrikes hit residential areas of central Beirut on Thursday evening. The strikes hit the working-class district of Basta and the Nweiri neighbourhood, the deadliest attacks to target central Beirut since Israel intensified its bombardment campaign on the country two weeks ago. Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that the strikes were an attempt to assassinate Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, which it said had failed.
At least 28 people, including women and children, have been killed after an Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza on Thursday morning. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it had responded to 27 fatalities and 54 injuries after the strike on the school turned shelter in Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military said it targeted militants who were operating in the compound.
More than 42,065 Palestinians have been killed and 97,886 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. In Lebanon, the health ministry said 2,169 killed and 10,212 wounded over the past year of conflict. The Lebanese figure did not include the casualties from the latest Israeli strikes on central Beirut on Thursday evening.
Unifil, the UN-peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said its headquarters and nearby positions in southern Lebanon have been repeatedly hit amid recent escalation along the blue line. A Unifil spokesperson said it was “alarmed” and “deeply concerned” after it said Israeli forces deliberately fired on its positions, injuring two peacekeepers. The alleged attacks brought expressions of outrage from UN member states who contribute troops to Unifil. The two injured UN peacekeepers were Indonesian. The Israeli military confirmed its troops opened fire in the area of the UN peacekeeping mission’s base, claiming that Hezbollah fighters operate from within and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near Unifil posts.
The Israeli military continued to push on with an offensive that began six days ago, when it sent its troops into Jabaliya, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. Palestinian health officials say at least 130 people have been killed so far in the operation, which Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping. The military has told residents to evacuate an area in which the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped.
Three hospitals in northern Gaza – Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals – have been ordered by Israeli forces to evacuate, putting patients’ lives at risk, medics say. The director of Kamal Adwan hospital n northern Gaza said eight patients, mostly children, were at risk inside the intensive care units should the Israeli army force them to evacuate. Israeli bombardment near Kamal Adwan hospital has already caused some damage to the facility, medics said. Officials said they know of many fatalities lying on the roads outside the hospital because of Israeli fire.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, said some Unrwa shelters and services were being forced to shut down for the first time since the war began and that with almost no basic supplies available, hunger was spreading again in northern Gaza, amid witness accounts of bodies lying uncollected in the streets because of the renewed fighting.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time in weeks on Wednesday amid expectations of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran. The US vice-president Kamala Harris also joined the call. The White House said Biden emphasised “the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut”. The readout did not directly mention possible retaliation for the Iranian missile strike but said Biden had condemned Tehran’s attack “unequivocally” and pledged “ironclad” support for Israel.
The US called on Israel to urgently address “catastrophic conditions” among Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and stop “intensifying suffering” by limiting aid deliveries. Speaking to the UN security council on Thursday, UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also warned Israel against trying to permanently expel Palestinians from Gaza or seize any territory for itself.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned its next strike on Iran will be “deadly, precise and surprising”. “Whoever attacks us will be hurt and will pay a price. Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising, they will not understand what happened and how it happened, they will see the results,” Gallant said in a video message on Israeli media on Wednesday night, broadcast after he postponed a scheduled trip to Washington, and a few hours after the conversation between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden.
Gulf states have been lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates. As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, three sources told Reuters.
Israel’s military said it had “eliminated” a Hezbollah member in Syria who it claimed had relayed intelligence against Israel in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syrian state TV said early on Thursday that Israel had carried out airstrikes targeting an industrial site in the Syrian city of Homs and a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama, causing “some material damage”.
A UN inquiry said it found that Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination. A statement by ex-UN high commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war in Gaza, and said Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system.
Humanitarian organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam and War on Want called on the UK government to stop all arms transfers to Israel. “The escalation of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon underscore our concerns and the need for the UK government to immediately suspend all weapons licences to Israel, and ensure it is not complicit in atrocities,” the letter said on Thursday.
EU staff stepped up their criticism over Europe’s “inaction” in response to the Israel-Gaza war, in a letter calling on the bloc’s senior officials to start a dialogue with them aimed at changing course on the Middle East crisis. The war has sharply divided EU member states: Hungary and the Czech Republic are Israel’s strongest supporters, while Spain, Ireland and non-EU Norway have recognised the Palestinian state.
Unicef confirmed that the second round of polio vaccination for children in the Gaza Strip will start on 14 October. Unicef executive director Catherine Russell in a statement on Thursday said “area-specific humanitarian pauses” had been agreed for the vaccination, adding that it was “critical that these pauses are respected by all parties.”
A young person has been detained in Sweden after a shooting at an Israeli defence company on Thursday. Police are investigating the incident, at Elbit Systems Sweden in Kallebäck, Gothenburg on Thursday morning, as attempted murder and aggravated weapons offences. Nobody was injured.

UN peacekeepers determined to stay in Lebanon despite Israeli attacks, says Unifil

A spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said its peacekeepers are determined to remain at their posts in southern Lebanon despite Israeli attacks in recent days that have wounded UN staff.

Unifil spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said recent Israeli attacks on the force was “one of the most serious events or incidents that we’ve been witnessing in the last 12 months”, Reuters reported.

Unifil’s 50 contributing countries agreed on Thursday to keep deploying more than 10,400 peacekeepers between the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. Tenenti said:

We are there because the Security Council has asked us to be there. So we are staying until the situation becomes impossible for us to operate.

As we reported earlier, the UN’s peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, warned that its forces are “increasingly in jeopardy” and confined to their bases, and that one Unifil contractor had already been killed.

Patrick Wintour

Mystery surrounded the whereabouts and health of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Esmail Ghaani, amid reports that he was being investigated over how Israel managed to penetrate and crush the command structure of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia at the heart of the Iranian “axis of resistance”.

It is known that Ghaani, who leads the IRGC’s al-Quds force, was in Beirut at the time of the killing of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, but Iranian authorities have insisted he is alive, and even in line for an award for valour.

The Qatari-backed outlet Middle East Eye claimed Ghaani had been put under house arrest and was being investigated over the failures that allowed Israel to penetrate the Hezbollah network so effectively. Another Arabic outlet claimed Ghaani had suffered a heart attack during questioning.

Israeli sources said the reports, regardless of their veracity, showed the degree of stress inside the IRGC over the destruction of the Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon.

Read the full story here: Iran general’s whereabouts in question after Israeli strikes on Hezbollah

Ghaani was appointed commander of al-Quds, a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in 2020. Photograph: LEADER OFFICE/AFP/Getty Images

Canada, which has been largely supportive of Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon, on Thursday said an incident in which Israeli troops fired on UN peacekeepers was “alarming and unacceptable.”

A statement from the Canadian foreign ministry reads:

Canada calls for the protection of peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, and for all parties to comply with international humanitarian law.

1/2 The IDF firing on #UNIFIL peacekeepers and first responders in #Lebanon is alarming and unacceptable. Canada reiterates its full support for UNIFIL and its critical role in contributing to a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701.

— Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) October 10, 2024

2/2 Canada calls for the protection of peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, and for all parties to comply with international humanitarian law.

— Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) October 10, 2024

The two United Nations peacekeeping troops wounded by weapons fired by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier today were at a Unifil observation post known as OP-14 in Naquora, southern Lebanon.

The UN posted to X also that “close by, also early this morning, IDF soldiers fired on a UN position UNP 1-31 from an opening in the fence made by the IDF the previous day during adjacent ground works. Several vehicles and a communications system were damaged.”

Close by, also early this morning, IDF soldiers fired on a UN position UNP 1-31 from an opening in the fence made by the IDF the previous day during adjacent ground works
Several vehicles and a communications system were damaged

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) October 10, 2024

It added that: “Just yesterday Israeli forces fired at cameras at the same UN position, and small arms fire hit another UN position also near Labuneh damaging lighting and a radio relay station.”

Also, in this thread on X, the UN said that: “Clashes in the Labuneh/Naqoura area since 8 October have involved tank and small arms fire, airstrikes, Iron Dome interceptions and multiple explosions.”

Head of UN Peacekeeping lambasts Israel firing on troops

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, United Nations under-secretary-general for peace operations, has spoken out at the UN Security Council in New York, lambasting Israeli military fire on peacekeeping troops’ position in southern Lebanon earlier today.

This situation has put our peacekeepers at serious risk,” he said.

Two soldiers were wounded when the Unifil – the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon – headquarters in Naqoura, on the coast, close to the line between Lebanon and Israel, was hit by tank fire.

Yemen’s Houthi group have claimed responsibility for an attack on a Liberian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea, which they said they targeted with 11 ballistic missiles and two drones on Thursday morning.

The Olympic Spirit was hit about 73 nautical miles (135 kilometres) southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.

The tanker, en route from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to Muscat in Oman, was struck on its starboard side, Reuters reported. The projectile hit the bridge causing minor damage, Ambrey said.

Four hours later, two additional projectiles reportedly detonated within 0.27 nautical mile of the vessel’s port side. A maritime security source told Reuters:

The damage is minor. The vessel has some technical issues, but it is seaworthy and continues its journey. They (the crew members) are all safe.

The Houthis said they had also targeted a vessel it identified as St. John in the Indian Ocean with a winged missile.

Israeli strikes on central Beirut kill 22, 117 wounded

The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut on Thursday has risen to 22, according to the country’s health ministry.

In addition, 117 people have been injured, it said.

One of the strikes hit the lower half of an eight-story apartment building in the area of Ras al-Nabaa, according to reports.

The second strike, in the area of Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military, which has launched frequent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent weeks, but strikes in central Beirut are rare.

People conduct search and rescue works around the demolished apartment building aftermath of Israeli attack on the Nowayri neighbourhood of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon on 10 October 2024. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Israeli military confirms troops fired in area of UN peacekeepers’ base in Lebanon

The Israeli military has confirmed its troops opened fire in the area of the UN peacekeeping mission’s base in southern Lebanon.

The Unifil force said Israeli forces fired on positions used by its peacekeepers in Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday.

Two peacekeepers were injured when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing them to fall, Unifil said. There were no casualties in the other two incidents, according to a UN source.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hezbollah fighters operate from within and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near Unifil posts.

It said the IDF is “operating in southern Lebanon and maintains routine communication with Unifil”.

William Christou

As we reported earlier, Israeli media reported that the target of the airstrikes in central Beirut tonight was Wafiq Safa, one of the top political officials of Hezbollah and the head of its liaison and coordination unit.

Quoting a source in Hezbollah, Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel al-Mayadeen said that the assasination attempt on Safa failed.

The Guardian could not verify this information.

At least 22 people killed in deadliest Israeli strike on central Beirut since start of war, officials say – as it happened

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