Child among at least 18 killed in Israeli strike near major Beirut hospital

Rafic Hariri University Hospital suffered ‘significant damage,’ says Lebanese Health Ministry

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At least 18 people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli strike near Lebanon's largest public hospital, rescue workers said on Tuesday. The strike was just one of more than a dozen that hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday night.

The Israeli army, which had told residents to flee several locations in southern Beirut just 15 minutes before the first strike, did not mention Rafic Hariri University Hospital as among its targets.

Another Israeli strike levelled an entire residential building in the middle of the day during peak travel time on Tuesday. Images posted online shows a missile slamming into the tall building in Tayouneh, which was attacked for the first time since the full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement broke out late last month. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Elsewhere, at least five people were killed and seven injured in Israeli attacks on the town of Hermel, in the far north-east, near the border with Syria.

It was the middle of the night and people were still sleeping

Saad al Ahmar,
director of the regional civil defence centre in Choueifat

Hezbollah said on Tuesday there would be no ceasefire negotiations while fighting with Israel continued. The Iran-backed group also said it alone conducted a drone attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's holiday home on Saturday.

The group "takes full and sole responsibility" for targeting Mr Netanyahu's house, Mohammad Afif, head of the group's media office said.

"If our hands didn't reach you the previous time, then days, nights and the battlefield are still between us," he added.

Hezbollah also for the first time acknowledged that Israel had captured some of its fighters since it launched a ground invasion in south Lebanon. It said Israel was responsible for their well-being.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said dozens were wounded, including seven who are in critical condition, in Monday's strike near the hospital. Several nearby residential buildings in the Jnah neighbourhood were destroyed, and rescue efforts were continuing on Tuesday

"There was a lot of destruction when we first arrived, and a lot of casualties because the building was full. It was the middle of the night and people were still sleeping," Saad al Ahmar, director of the regional civil defence centre in Choueifat, told The National. He added that his teams pulled "mostly women and children" from the rubble.

The strike hit a few hundred metres from the hospital, which hosts a newly-opened trauma centre by the International Committee of the Red Cross. It suffered some exterior damage, including cracks in the facade and several shattered windows caused by shrapnel.

"They fired two rockets at the apartment over there," Jihad Saadeh, the director of the hospital said. "But this has not affected hospital operations."

Many of the injured were treated at the hospital. "We found a child among the dead," he said, adding that he expected the death toll to rise.

The centre is operating as normal, while Sahel Hospital, in Haret Hreik neighbourhood, which Israel claimed Monday evening was being used by Hezbollah to hide cash and hundreds of thousands of dollars, is operating at partial capacity “despite the extremely difficult security conditions”, Lebanon's Health Ministry said.

“How long will this indifference continue, and how many innocent people will be killed and vital buildings destroyed and damaged, before the world's conscience awakens and the Israeli entity stops its attacks Lebanon's health sector?” it added.

Documents of Hezbollah-run Al Qard Al Hassan are scattered at the site of an Israeli air strike on Sunday night in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. AP

An excavator clears the rubble at the site of the Israeli air strike that targeted the branch. AFP

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on Dahieh in southern Beirut. EPA

People drive next to a building, targeted in an Israeli air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP

A displaced child outside a makeshift tent in Beirut's seaside promenade. AFP

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs near Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport after an Israeli air strike. Reuters

Children who fled Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, attend a drawing workshop organised by volunteers, at a shelter in Beirut. AFP

People displaced from Lebanon board a ship bound for Turkey at the port of the northern city of Tripoli. AFP

Israeli attacks killed four paramedics, five were wounded, and three ambulances were damaged over the past 24 hours, according to the ministry. Civil defence and medical workers have been regularly targeted in Israeli strikes across the country, which have hit fire stations and ambulances rushing to the wounded.

Air strikes hit at least 13 different locations across southern Beirut on Monday night, state media added, including the Ouzai neighbourhood, which was hit for the first time since the war began.

A Lebanese security official told AFP that the country’s national airline had to switch landing strips on Monday after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit close to the main runway. “Middle East Airlines switched the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the site of the Ouzai strike,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Bombing was reported on the area about 15 minutes after the Israeli army issued a displacement order for local residents, with video footage showing people fleeing in panic. Attacks were also reported across the south and the eastern Baalbek governorate.

The southern town of Khiam was hit by continuous strikes from early Tuesday morning, state media added, with artillery shelling also targeting the town and the nearby village of Kfar Kila.