Gaza, Lebanon hit in deadly assaults

GAZA/BEIRUT — Strikes by the Israeli military killed dozens in Gaza on Sunday, the civil defense said, while also hitting a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut's international airport.

Israel has been fighting on two fronts since September, intensifying attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah after the cross-border clashes with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A Lebanese security source said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif was killed in a strike on Beirut's Ras al-Nabaa district, Agence France-Presse reported. Israel's military declined to comment.

Following Hamas' Oct 7 attacks last year, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people in Israel and led to about 250 hostages being taken, Israel has launched large-scale offensives against Hamas in Gaza.

In the latest violence in the besieged Palestinian territory, the civil defense agency said Israeli air raids killed at least 46 people.

The deadliest strike, in the middle of the night in Beit Lahia in the north, killed 26 people, and left at least 59 others buried under the rubble, said civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of conflict had reached 43,846.

On Israel's second front in the north, AFPTV footage showed several strikes hit Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, shortly after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate.

Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital's southern suburbs, where Lebanon's only international airport is located.

Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported.

Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report casualties.

Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since Sept 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday.

The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel's military said late on Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area.

In Lebanon's east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.

Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Chamaa.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.

Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah.

A UN-backed assessment on Nov 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.

In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares were fired near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.

The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show "seriousness" in truce and hostage-release talks.

Agencies via Xinhua