• 87 dead or missing after Saturday’s air strike in Beit Lahiya
• Tel Aviv claims attack on Hezbollah’s intelligence office leaves three commanders dead; group says its rockets targeted Israeli bases near Haifa, Safed, Tiberias
• Israel says its colonel killed during combat in Gaza

BEIRUT: Israel said it had struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Sunday, while officials in Gaza said they were still trying to recover bodies from the rubble after an Israeli strike that killed dozens.

At least 87 people were dead or missing following the air strike on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza late on Saturday, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory said.

Fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, including Alhaj Abbas Salameh, a senior figure in the group’s southern command, the Israeli military claimed in a statement.

Reuters witnesses saw smoke rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs, once a densely populated zone that also housed Hezbollah offices.

The Lebanese army said three soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike that “targeted” their vehicle in the country’s south.

The troops were killed on a road connecting the border village of Ain Ebel to the nearby town of Hanin, the army said.

The Lebanese official media reported 14 Israeli strikes within minutes on the border village of Khiam.

“Enemy aircraft launched 14 consecutive strikes on Khiam […] in 15 minutes,” the state-run National News Agency said.

A 41-year-old Israeli colonel was killed in combat in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Sunday.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at three military bases in northern Israel, hours after Israel said it was stepping up its strikes targeting the Iran-backed group in southern Lebanon.

The rocket salvos targeted bases near Haifa, Safed and Tiberias, Hezbollah said, after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that Israel was “destroying” Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

It marked an intensification of Israel’s offensives against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire negotiations to end more than a year of the conflict.

Israel is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile barrage earlier this month with Washington pressing it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was the subject of an assassination attempt by Hezbollah on Saturday when a drone was directed at his holiday home. In a call with former US president Donald Trump, he reiterated that Israel would make decisions based on its own interests.

In Gaza, the health ministry said rescue operations following the strike in Beit Lahiya were being hindered by communications problems and ongoing Israeli military operations.

Evacuation orders directing people south have fuelled fears among many Palestinians that the Israeli offensive is intended to clear them out of the northern part of Gaza to help ensure Tel Aviv’s control of the area after the conflict.

The Israeli offensive has made most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people homeless, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools.

“Horrifying scenes unfolding in Gaza, amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes & an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis,” UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland posted on X.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2024