Israeli airstrikes kill at least 11, injure dozens in central Beirut

Rescuers search for victims or survivors amid the rubble of a building, following the Israeli airstrike. Pic/PTI

Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 11 people and injured dozens in central Beirut, as diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire. Lebanon's civil defence said the death toll was provisional as emergency responders were still digging through the rubble looking for survivors.

The strikes were the fourth on the Lebanese capital in less than a week. The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein travelled to the region this week in an attempt to broker a cease-fire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has erupted into full-on war in the past two months.

Hochstein said he held "very constructive talks" with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah who is mediating on the group's behalf. "We have continued to significantly narrow the gaps," the envoy told reporters after the two-hour meeting. "It's ultimately the decisions of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict... It is now within our grasp" he continued.

This also comes just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese health ministry. It has displaced about 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in fighting in Lebanon. The strikes occurred at 4 am local time, destroying an eight-story building and leaving a crater in the ground. Also on Saturday a drone strike killed one person and injured another in the southern port city of Tyre, according to the state-run National News Agency.

The agency said the people killed and injured in Tyre were fishermen. An AP journalist, who saw the strike from a nearby hotel overlooking the beach, said he had watched the fishermen set up their nets beforehand and they appeared to both be young teenagers. The strikes came a day after heavy bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs and as heavy ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants continues in southern Lebanon, with Israeli troops pushing farther from the border. Israel's military did not issue a warning for residents to evacuate prior to the strikes in central Beirut and would not comment on those strikes.

15,000
Total number of Lebanese people killed in Israeli airstrikes

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