An Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah’s spokesman, while a strike in Gaza kills at least 30

BEIRUT —  A rare Israeli strike in central Beirut killed the chief spokesman for the Hezbollah militant group on Sunday, while an Israeli strike in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya killed at least 30 people, the director of a hospital there told the Associated Press.

Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party’s office, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was the latest in targeted killings of senior Hezbollah officials. Later on Sunday, another strike in central Beirut hit a computer shop, killing two people and wounding 13, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The strikes occurred as Lebanese officials considered a United States-led cease-fire proposal. Israel on Sunday also bombed several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

Screams in central Beirut

There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection in central Beirut that killed Afif. An AP photographer there saw four bodies and four wounded people. There was no comment from the Israeli military.

“I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire,” said witness Suheil Halabi. “I was startled, honestly. This is the first time I experience it so close.”

After the second strike in central Beirut on Sunday night, firefighters struggled to control the blaze in the busy residential neighborhood of Mar Elias. Small explosions could be heard in the shop. Bystanders said they heard a second explosion and a car nearby appeared to be hit.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated.

Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1. On Sunday, Israel’s military said mobile artillery batteries had crossed into Lebanon and began attacking Hezbollah targets, the first time artillery was launched within Lebanese territory.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and more than 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah has fired dozens of projectiles into Israel daily. The attacks have killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a teenager suffered blast injuries Sunday in Upper Galilee.

Lebanon’s army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike on Sunday hit a military center in southeastern Al-Mari, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

In Gaza, an escalation

Hosam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, said there were dozens of wounded after the Israeli strike there, and others likely were still under the rubble.

Fleeing residents told the AP that houses were hit.

An Israeli military statement earlier said it conducted several strikes on “terrorist targets” in Beit Lahiya. It said efforts to evacuate civilians from the “active war zone” there continued.

Israeli forces have again been on the offensive in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped there.

“Tonight we did not sleep at all,” said one fleeing Beit Lahiya resident, Dalal al-Bakri. “They destroyed all the houses around us.... There are many martyrs.”

A woman, Umm Hamza, said the bombing had escalated overnight. “It’s cold and we don’t know where to go,” she said.

Earlier, officials said Israeli strikes killed six people in Nuseirat and four in Bureij, two built-up refugee camps in central Gaza dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

Two people were killed in a strike on Gaza’s main north-south highway, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al Balah.

Israel’s military said two soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Sunday.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting around 250 others. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.

On Sunday, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said it held a joint meeting with the heads of the army and intelligence to discuss mediation efforts to release the hostages. It was the first public word of any such effort since Qatar announced it was suspending its mediation work earlier this month.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says around 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced, and large areas of the territory have been flattened by Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming book.

3 arrested after flares fired at Netanyahu’s home

Israeli police arrested three suspects after two flares were fired overnight at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.

Netanyahu and his family were not there, authorities said. A drone launched by Hezbollah struck the residence last month, also when they were away.

The police did not provide details about the suspects, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests. Critics blame him for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to happen and for not reaching a deal with Hamas to release hostages.

His government also faces anger from the ultra-Orthodox community over military draft notices. Some protested Sunday in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv after the government said 7,000 new notices would be issued.

Tawil, Mroue and Melzer write for the Associated Press. Melzer reported from Tel Aviv. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.