Dozens killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including 29 in central Beirut

By Charbel Mallo, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Catherine Nicholls

(CNN) — Dozens of people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon this weekend, including 29 who died after an attack flattened a multi-story residential building in central Beirut, according to Lebanese officials.

In the densely populated Basta area of the Lebanese capital, rescue workers were Saturday searching for survivors under the rubble after the attack featuring what the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said were “bunker-busting” bombs.

At least 66 people were injured in the strike, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, while a Lebanese security source told CNN that no senior Hezbollah member was in the building leveled. The ministry revised the death toll from the attack upward Sunday, having previously reported that 20 people had died.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not issue an evacuation order for the area ahead of the strikes, and has not yet commented on the attack.

The strike, one of several in Beirut and across Lebanon Saturday, comes as Israel escalates its attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah despite ongoing ceasefire efforts.

In the southern suburbs of Beirut, Israel said it had struck Hezbollah targets Saturday morning after issuing evacuation orders covering several buildings “to mitigate harm to civilians.” NNA later reported a “very strong airstrike” in the area.

Outside the capital, Israeli strikes were also reported in the east and south of the country Saturday.

In eastern Lebanon, a strike on the town of Shmistar in the Baalbek-Hermel region killed at least 13 people, including four children, and wounded another 13, the country’s health ministry said. Strikes on other towns in the same region killed at least 11 people and wounded 32 others.

In the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, an Israeli strike that hit several buildings killed five people and wounded 19, the ministry said. NNA reported Saturday that one of its reporters was 50 meters away from a drone strike on a beach in Tyre.

CNN has reached out the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the strikes in the east and south.

Meanwhile, clashes between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon are ongoing, with reports indicating heavy fighting near the town of Khiam, a strategically important location for Hezbollah. The Israeli military has not confirmed clashes in and around Khiam.

Hezbollah said it had carried out at least 30 attacks against Israel and its troops in Lebanon Saturday with drones, missiles, and rockets, saying its actions were “ in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

Saturday’s attack in Basta marks the latest in a string of Israeli strikes on central Beirut in recent weeks, following the killing of a Hezbollah spokesperson in an airstrike last Sunday.

Most Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Lebanese militant group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs since hostilities ramped up in recent months.

Over the past week, the Israeli air force has “struck dozens of Hezbollah command centers, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure,” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Israeli military said in a statement Saturday.

Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in September, killing top commanders, carrying out waves of strikes and sending troops into southern Lebanon, with the stated goal of allowing displaced Israelis to return to areas of the north.

More than 3,000 people have been killed since then, with thousands of others injured, according to the country’s health ministry. More than a million Lebanese people have been displaced, the UN’s refugee agency has said.

Earlier this week, United States envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to Beirut in what was seen as a sign of progress in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hezbollah. On Tuesday, Hochstein said that a truce between the two was “within our grasp.”

Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem said Wednesday that the group was negotiating under the condition of Lebanese sovereignty, as well as the condition that “the Israeli enemy has no right to violate, kill, or enter at will under any pretexts.”

Israeli ministers have said that any agreement must include the preservation of an intelligence capability and the right of the Israeli military to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.

The Israeli military continues to operate in Gaza, where the health ministry said 120 people have been killed as a result of Israeli military operations over the past 48 hours.

A senior official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Saturday that the UN had tried to get into parts of northern Gaza for over a month.

Jonathan Whittall, head of OCHA in Palestinian territory, said Israeli forces “have denied almost all requests. The result? People are under rubble without rescue. The sick and wounded can’t reach hospitals. Safe water and food have run out. Lives are lost.”

This story has been updated.

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CNN’s Tim Lister, Eyad Kourdi, Tamara Qiblawi and Dana Karni contributed to this article.