Israel strikes Beirut after rejecting ceasefire

The Israeli military launched strikes in southern Beirut on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, saying it would leave Hezbollah forces near his country's border.

An AFP journalist saw black smoke rising from Beirut's Haret Hreik area after two strikes, which followed an Israeli military warning for residents to evacuate.

One of the strikes targeted weapons "stockpiled by Hezbollah in an underground storage facility", the military said.

Netanyahu's refusal to halt the offensive came as the United States ramped up pressure on Israel, criticising the bombing of Beirut and urging more aid access for Gazans.

In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu said he was "opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was", according to his office.

Israel insists it needs a buffer zone along its northern border, free of Hezbollah fighters.

"Netanyahu clarified that Israel would not agree to any arrangement that does not provide this (a buffer zone) and which does not stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping," the statement said.

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said the only solution was a ceasefire while threatening to expand its missile strikes across Israel.

"Since the Israeli enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place" in Israel, he said.

Early Wednesday Israel's military said about 50 projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the country's north, without any reports of casualties.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said it launched several salvos of rockets on northern Israel and army positions.

The Israeli military said it had "eliminated dozens of terrorists during exchanges of fire and aerial strikes" in Lebanon.

- US on Israeli offensives -

Israel bombed several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, including in the Bekaa Valley, where a hospital was knocked out of service, the official National News Agency reported.

The Israeli military said it had captured three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon.

Lebanon's health ministry reported nine deaths from strikes on the country's south, and five more in the east, including three children.

The US State Department criticised Israeli strikes.

"We have made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we've seen it conducted over the past weeks" in Beirut, said spokesman Matthew Miller.

In a letter to Israel's government on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned US weapons deliveries to Israel could be withheld unless more aid reaches Gazans.

The letter made clear "there are changes that they need to make again to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today," Miller said.

- 'Worst restrictions' -

The United Nations warned restrictions on aid to Gaza were the worst since Israel's offensive on Hamas began in October last year.

"We see now what is probably the worst restrictions we've seen on humanitarian aid, ever," said James Elder, a spokesman for the UN's children's agency UNICEF, noting there were several days where no trucks were allowed into Gaza.

Israeli forces have been conducting air and ground assaults on northern Gaza and Jabalia, amid claims Hamas militants were regrouping in the area.

"The whole area has been reduced to ashes," said Rana Abdel Majid, 38, from northern Gaza's Al-Faluja area, describing the "indiscriminate, merciless bombing" that has levelled entire blocks.

Israel's military said it had "eliminated over 50 terrorists in close-quarters encounters and aerial strikes" in Jabalia during the past day.

At a shelter hit by an Israeli strike in the central Nuseirat camp, Fatima al-Azab said: "There is no safety anywhere".

"They are all children, sleeping in the covers, all burned and cut up," she said.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after an October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, including hostages killed in captivity.

The Israeli campaign has killed 42,344 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory which the UN considers reliable.

- Lebanon strikes -

Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon from September 23, launching a ground offensive a week later to push the group back from its northern border.

Hezbollah has fired thousands of projectiles into Israel over the past year in support of Hamas, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.

At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel intensified its bombing last month, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The war in Lebanon, which has suffered years of economic crisis, has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.

Israel is also weighing how to respond to Iran's launch of about 200 missiles at the country on October 1.

Netanyahu's office said Israel -- and not its top ally the United States -- would decide how to strike back.

"We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest," it said.

Iran's top diplomat told UN chief Antonio Guterres his country was ready for a "decisive and regretful" response if Israel attacks, his office said.

The Iranian barrage was in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Lebanon's Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and another that killed Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan on September 27.

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