Israeli strikes pound Beirut and Gaza, killing dozens of civilians

An Israeli air strike in central Beirut's area of Basta killed at least 11 people, and wounded another 63, the Lebanese civil defense said. 

Rescue operations were under way at the site of the eight-storey building, with Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reporting that Beirut "woke up to a horrific massacre," after Israeli jets hit the building in the working-class Basta neighborhood.

"The final death toll will be determined after DNA tests are carried out," the ministry said. 

The attack was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs. Israel does not always issue warnings before it carries out attacks – in both Lebanon and Gaza.

In its latest war update, Israel's military said its air strikes in Beirut over the past day targeted "several Hezbollah command centers" and "weapons storage facilities."

The military said it took steps to "mitigate harm to civilians," by giving advance warnings, and accused Hezbollah of intentionally positioning itself among civilians "as a human shield."

The NNA said Israeli jets had launched six missiles at the structure, causing "widespread destruction in buildings."

The civil defense also said it had carried out a number of rescue operations throughout the country since Friday night. 

The second strike hit the neighborhood of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs, which are a stronghold of Hezbollah. 

Israel's latest strikes in Lebanon have killed numerous civilians, including five paramedics in the south, in what the country's Health Ministry called a "war crime," according to Al Jazeera media network.

Israel stepped up its campaign against the group in late September, targeting areas where it holds sway in the country's east, south and south Beirut, and later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire.

Lebanon's health ministry says at least 3,645 people have been killed since October 2023, when Hezbollah initiated cross-border clashes with Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas over the Gaza war. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.

Gaza: 'Our entire life is misery'

Gaza's civil defense agency said 19 people, including at least six children, were killed by Israeli air strikes and tank fire.

One of the strikes hit a house in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City in the north of the territory, killing seven people, three of them children, and wounding 10.

AFPTV footage showed people searching the rubble using torches and mobile phones in the darkness, while a young boy desperately cried "papa."

Another strike in the main southern city of Khan Younis killed six people, including three children, and wounded 26 displaced people who were living in tents near the house that was struck, said Bassal.

"Our entire life is misery. Let them kill us all so we can be relieved from this suffering," the sister of one of the victims said.

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the UN considers reliable.

The war has led to a humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, where people are experiencing widespread shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, said all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry."

The UN says more than 100,000 have been displaced from the area, and an official told the Security Council last week that people "are effectively starving."