The spokesperson of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Mohammed Afif, was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Sunday.
The attack was just the fourth Israeli strike inside Beirut’s city limits since 2006, when a 34-day armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah took place.
Sunday’s strike hit the area, known as Ras al-Nebaa, in the middle of the day, with no evacuation warning issued. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had no comment on the strike.
For years, Afif headed media relations at Hezbollah. After the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September, Afif was a prominent public face of the party, delivering speeches from news conferences amid the rubble in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been pounded by attacks since Israel began a new offensive on October 1.
Israel’s apparent targeting of Afif comes amid an escalation in its offensive in Lebanon, alongside intensified diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Israel’s war on many fronts
Meanwhile, at least 50 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza on Sunday morning, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Dozens of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing Israeli operation in the nearby Jabalya area were sheltering in two of the houses hit, a local journalist said.
The resident said the people in the area started removing the dead from the rubble in the absence of civil defense and ambulances. Gaza’s civil defense say they are unable to operate in the area due to the continuing Israeli strikes.
“These were people displaced from Jabalya to Beit Lahiya,” the eyewitness said.
Another toddler is heard in the background crying, “mama, mama.”
Separately, Israeli strikes targeted al-Bureij in central Gaza killing 23 people, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
“It was a very terrifying night, with the sounds of small children screaming — every little one calling for their mother,” one resident in the area, Mahmoud Azaiza, said.
Israel launched a renewed military offensive on Jabalya last month after Israeli intelligence indicated that Hamas was trying to rebuild its capabilities in the area. The offensive displaced thousands of Palestinians and killed dozens.
The operation has inflicted losses on the Israeli military, with 20 soldiers declared to have been killed in northern Gaza since the operation began, including four last week, according to statements published by the IDF since October 6.
“This operation to systematically dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area will continue as long as required in order to achieve its objectives,” the IDF said last month.
The continued offensive on Gaza coincides with Israel’s expanding operation in southern Lebanon. On Friday night, Israeli forces reached the village of Chama, some 61 miles from the capital of Beirut, in what is understood to be the deepest incursion into southern Lebanese territory.
Israeli forces withdrew after clashing with Hezbollah, Lebanese state media said.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continued pounding the Lebanese capital on Sunday for the sixth consecutive day. The IDF renewed evacuation warnings Sunday morning for residents of Haret Hreik in the southern Beirut suburbs, where Hezbollah is known to have a strong presence.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
