At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in last 24 hours

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At least 44 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in the last 24 hours. 

A strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut killed at least 31 people including three children and seven women, the country’s health minister Firas Abiad said.

Fifteen of the 68 wounded in the attack remain in hospital.

A view of a damaged building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Pic: Reuters

Ali Harake, the head of the rescue team searching through the rubble, told Sky News his team is still looking for between 17 and 18 missing people – though he fears none have survived.

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‘I think the missing people are dead’

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It is understood two apartment blocks in a densely populated southern neighbourhood collapsed in the strike – the deadliest attack on Beirut in decades.

Top Hezbollah commanders are believed to have been meeting in the basement of one of the buildings.

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Hezbollah has confirmed two of its senior commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, died in the strike while an Israeli military spokesperson said that at least 16 Hezbollah militants were killed.

People gather near a firetruck and damaged vehicles at the site of Friday's Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Pic: Reuters

Debris covers the ground near a damaged building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Pic: Reuters

Wahbi oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces – a commando unit that seeks to infiltrate and carry out attacks in Israel – until early 2024. Aqil was also a top commander for the Iran-backed group.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has described the killing of Aqil as a “crime” and a “folly”, adding Israel will “pay the price”.

Read more: Israeli airstrike on Beirut causes more shock to a country already rocked to its core

Meanwhile, at least 13 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City, according to a local report.

The strikes are believed to have hit several schools sheltering displaced people in the southern part of the city.

Palestinians inspect a school, which was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Inside a school, that was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike this morning. Pic: Reuters

A Palestinian man walks on a street after a school, which was sheltering displaced people, was hit by an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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The street outside the school. Pic: Reuters

The strikes come after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, largely targeting Israeli military sites.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets.


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Hezbollah said its latest wave of rocket attacks was a response to past Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

It came days after mass explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people, including two children. Some 2,900 others were wounded in the assault which has been widely attributed to Israel.

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