Airstrike hits apartment in Beirut city centre – as minister warns Lebanon on ‘verge of catastrophe’
An apparent Israeli airstrike has hit an apartment building in central Beirut in what is believed to be the first attack in the centre of Lebanon’s capital city since the current conflict with Hezbollah began.
The residential neighbourhood in the Kola district – a major transportation hub – was hit early on Monday morning with images released by the Associated Press from the scene showing damage to buildings and emergency services gathered outside.
Palestinian militant group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – which is taking part in the fight against Israel and promotes a one-state solution to the conflict – claimed the strike killed three of its leaders.
A Lebanese civil defence official said at least one person was killed in the strike and 16 people were injured.
Lebanon ‘on verge of catastrophe’; follow Middle East latest
The Israeli military has not commented or confirmed it was behind the attack.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese health ministry claimed at least 105 people had been killed across the country in separate airstrikes on Sunday.
The scene after an apparent Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s city centre. Pic: AP
It claimed two attacks near the southern city of Sidon, about 28 miles south of Beirut, killed at least 32, and separate attacks in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed a further 21 and injured at least 47.
A further 11 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the northeastern Lebanese village of al Ain, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.
Six of the bodies were recovered but rescuers are still searching the rubble of the destroyed home for the remaining five, it added.
Personnel inspect damage after strike. Pic: AP
They are among the rough estimates from the Lebanese health ministry that say 1,000 have been killed and 6,000 wounded as a result of Israeli airstrikes in the past two weeks.
The intensifying Israeli bombardment over the past couple of weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Medical and security sources said over the weekend that Nasrallah’s body was found “intact” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh – where senior members of the militant group were gathered.
Pic: AP
He was found with no direct wounds and is believed to have died from the blunt trauma of the explosion.
Hezbollah confirmed senior official Ali Karaki was also killed in Friday’s strike.
Footage from the site – a residential area of the Lebanese capital – shows a huge crater between high-rise buildings.
The site of Israel’s Friday airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Pic: Reuters
Damage at the site of Friday’s airstrike in Beirut. Pic: Reuters
‘Verge of coming to catastrophe’
The number of displaced people across the country has increased from 300,000 to almost a million in a matter of hours, Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management, said.
He told Sky News’ special correspondent Alex Crawford that despite hundreds of shelters being opened, Lebanon is “in a very critical moment”.
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Displaced people flock to Beirut mosque
“We don’t want this to collapse fully, but we are on the verge of coming to a catastrophic humanitarian situation,” he said.
Lebanon has one of the largest refugee populations per capita in the world – with 1.5 million Syrian refugees and 2,500 Palestinians – to a population of around 3.5 million.
In its first statement since Nasrallah’s death, the Lebanese military called for calm at “this dangerous and delicate stage” of the conflict.
Displaced people in southern Beirut following strikes this weekend. Pic: Reuters
But both Israel and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks on Sunday.
Israel also launched airstrikes against the Houthi militant group in Yemen – which is part of an Iran-aligned regional alliance, alongside Hamas and Hezbollah.
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The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on the country’s port of Hodeidah.
Israel claimed the strikes were a response to Houthi missile attacks.
A new aid system has opened its first distribution centres in Gaza, according to a US-backed organisation dealing with supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in the territory on Monday, following the resignation of its director, Jake Wood, over its independence.
Gaza’s 2.3m population has been pushed towards famine by Israel’s almost three-month blockade.
Boxes of aid to be distributed across Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
The GHF said lorryloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” it said in a statement.
The controversial group, backed by Israel and the United States, has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups.
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People line up for food in Gaza
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF.
They claim Israel is weaponising food, and the new distribution system will be ineffective and lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They also argue the GHF will fail to meet local needs, and violates humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance.
In the meantime, scores of Palestinians in Gaza, like Islam Abu Taima, have resorted to searching through rubbish to find food.
Palestinians are having to search through rubbish to find food
She found a small pile of cooked rice, scraps of bread, and a box with a few pieces of cheese inside it – which she said she will serve to her five children.
“We’re dying of hunger,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
“If we don’t eat, we’ll die.”
Islam Abu Taeima finds a piece of bread in a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Pic: AP.
It is unclear how many of the GHF’s aid trucks will enter Gaza.
It claims it will reach one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
There are questions, however, over who is funding it and how it will work.
Trucks transporting aid for Palestinians in Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
It has been set up as part of an Israeli plan – rather than a UN distribution effort.
Israel, which suggested a similar plan earlier this year, has said it will not be involved in distributing the aid but supported the plan and would provide security.
It says aid deliveries into Gaza are taken by Hamas instead of going to civilians.
Aid groups, however, say there is no evidence of this happening on a systemic basis.
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Israel began to allow a limited amount of food into Gaza last week – after a blockade that prevented food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering the Palestinian enclave.
A letter has been signed by hundreds of judges and lawyers calling on the UK government to impose trade sanctions on Israel.
It also calls for Israeli ministers to be sanctioned and the suspension of Israel from the UN over “serious breaches of international law”.
“Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide,” the letter says.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of genocide in Gaza.
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At least 31 dead after school attack
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following the deadly attacks by the militant group on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
The health ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in Gaza.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.
Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.
More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.
Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.
King Charles and Mark Carney on Monday. Pic: PA
Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.
“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.
John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.
“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.
“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.
“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”
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The forgotten legacy of British children sent to Canada
John Jefkins
John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.
“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.
“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”
The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”
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King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a two-day visit to Canada.
On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.
Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”
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