Masnaa Border Crossing, Lebanon – Powerful new explosions rocked the southern outskirts of Beirut late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon and also hit a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time, attacking both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the growing conflict in the region rallies were held around the world marking the approach birthday of the start of the war in Gaza.
The strong explosions began around midnight after the Israeli army urged residents to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite collection of suburbs on Beirut’s southern edge. AP video showed the blasts lighting up the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic attacks and the almost constant buzz of reconnaissance drones.
The Israeli army confirmed it had hit targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had entered Israeli territory from Lebanon, some of which had been intercepted.
Earlier on Saturday, Israel killed an official from Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters in the attack on the northern Beddawi camp, the Palestinian militant group said. Hamas later said another member of its military wing was killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. The aftermath showed destroyed buildings, scattered rocks and stairs leading nowhere.
Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas , alongside most of the top leadership of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, as fighting has escalated sharply.
At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah, the strongest force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and the Israeli army have exchanged fire almost daily.
Last week, Israel launched a so-called limited ground operation in southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground fighting that Israel says has killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.” The minister said the unnamed countries proposing initiatives include regional states and some countries outside the Middle East.
Araghchi spoke a day after Iran’s supreme leader praised his position recent rocket attacks on Israel and said it was willing to do it again if necessary.
On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so.” About Lebanon, he said, “we are not ready yet.”
Flee Lebanon on foot
The Israeli military said earlier Saturday that about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arabian city of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were slightly injured.
At least six people have been killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese state news agency.
Nearly 375,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government commission.
Associated Press journalists watched as hundreds continued to cross the Masnaa border crossing on foot, crunching over rubble after Israeli airstrikes huge craters left on the road which leads to it on Thursday. It is believed that much of Hezbollah’s weaponry comes from Iran via Syria.
“We were on the road for two days,” says Issa Hilal, one of the many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now returning. “The roads were very busy… it was very difficult. We almost died when we came here.” Some children whimpered or cried.
Other displaced families are now sheltering along Beirut’s famous Corniche coast, their wind-swaying tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” Om Ali Mcheik said.
The Israeli military said special forces carried out ground attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.
More evacuation orders in Gaza
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Nearly 90% of Gaza residents have been displaced amid widespread destruction.
Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza killed at least nine people on Saturday. One killed at least five, including two children, in the northern city of Beit Hanoun, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, Awda Hospital said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from civilian areas.
An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the Civil Defense First Response Group operating under the Hamas-led government.
The Israeli army warned Palestinians to evacuate along the border strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza That was the core of the obstacles to a ceasefire. The army has ordered people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
It is unclear how many Palestinians are in those areas. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.
Mroue reported from Beirut and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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