At least 15 killed after Israeli strike flattens building in central Beirut, Civil Defense says

By Charbel Mallo, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Catherine Nicholls, CNN

(CNN) — At least 15 people have been killed and several others injured after an Israeli strike flattened a multi-story residential building in central Beirut overnight, Lebanese officials said.

Israel has been escalating its attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah despite ongoing ceasefire efforts.

Rescue workers in Lebanon were on Saturday searching for survivors under the rubble in the densely populated Basta area of the Lebanese capital, authorities said.

The attack left a “deep crater” in the area that it hit, the country’s state National News Agency (NNA) reported, blaming powerful “bunker busting” bombs.

At least 63 other people were injured in the strike, according to a toll provided by Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

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.

A Lebanese security source told CNN that no senior Hezbollah member was in the building that was leveled.

Elsewhere, the Israeli military said that it had struck Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday morning. Evacuation orders were issued for a number of buildings in the area. Later on Saturday, NNA reported that “a very strong airstrike” targeted a building in the southern suburbs.

Israeli strikes have also continued in the Tyre area on the coast. NNA reported Saturday that one of its reporters was 50 meters away from a drone strike on a beach in Tyre. The target and casualties are unconfirmed.

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.

Saturday’s attack 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.

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.

Nearly 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 reporting.