- An Israeli airstrike in central Beirut killed Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif al-Naboulsi, on Sunday.
- The strike targeted the office of the Arab Socialist Baath Party and Hezbollah confirmed his death.
- In central Beirut, witnesses described explosions and fires following the strike that killed al-Naboulsi.
A rare Israeli strike in central Beirut killed the chief spokesman of the Hezbollah militant group on Sunday, while an Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, killed at least 30 people, the media said. ‘Associated Press the director of a hospital.
Mohammed Afif al-Naboulsi was killed in a strike on the office of the Arab socialist Baath Party in Beirut, Hezbollah confirmed in a statement. It was particularly visible after the outbreak of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah in September.
The Israeli military said in a statement that he “exercised significant influence over Hezbollah’s military operations” and that he “glorified and incited” attacks against Israel.
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This is the latest targeted assassination of a senior Hezbollah official. On Sunday evening, another strike in central Beirut hit a computer store, killing two people and injuring 22 others, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Hezbollah’s chief spokesperson Mohammed Afif speaks during a news conference in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, November 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)
The strikes came as Lebanese officials were studying a ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States. “This confirms the crimes of the Israeli enemy, who wants to negotiate under fire and expands and targets increasingly secure areas,” said Lebanese MP Faisal Al Sayegh.
Israel also bombed several buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has long established its headquarters, after warning the population to evacuate.
Screams in central Beirut
There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the strike near a busy intersection that killed Afif. Four people were killed and 14 others injured, including two children, the health ministry said.
“I was sleeping and woke up to the sound of banging, people screaming, cars and gunshots,” said witness Suheil Halabi.
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After the second strike in central Beirut, firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control in the bustling residential neighborhood of Mar Elias. Passersby said they heard a second explosion and a nearby car appeared to have been hit.
A man shouts in front of a fire that breaks out in a computer store hit during an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, November 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel the day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict continued to escalate.
Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on October 1. On Sunday, the Israeli military said mobile artillery batteries entered Lebanon and began attacking Hezbollah targets, the first time artillery had been launched into Lebanese territory.
More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry, and more than 1.2 million have been driven from their homes. It is unclear how many of the dead were Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah fires dozens of projectiles into Israel every day. The attacks killed at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused around 60,000 people to flee. Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom said a teenager was injured by an explosion in the Upper Galilee on Sunday.
The Lebanese army, largely on the sidelines, said an Israeli strike hit a military center in southeastern Al-Mari on Sunday, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
In Gaza, an escalation
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, Hosam Abu Safiya, said dozens of people were injured in the Israeli strike and that more people were likely under the rubble.
Fleeing residents told the AP that homes had been hit. An Israeli military statement earlier said it had carried out several strikes on “terrorist targets” in Beit Lahiya and that efforts to evacuate civilians from the “active war zone” were continuing.
Israeli forces have launched the offensive again in northern Gaza, saying Hamas militants have regrouped.
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“Tonight we didn’t sleep at all,” said Dalal al-Bakri, a fleeing Beit Lahiya resident. “They destroyed all the houses around us. (…) There are many martyrs.”
Civil protection officers extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, November 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
One woman, Umm Hamza, said the bombing intensified 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 refugee camps built in central Gaza dating from the 1948 war that surrounded 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 town of Deir al-Balah.
The Israeli army said two soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Sunday.
The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping around 250 others. There are around 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to be dead.
On Sunday, Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, said it had met with military and intelligence chiefs to discuss mediation efforts to free the hostages. It is the first public declaration of such an effort since Qatar announced earlier this month that it was suspending its mediation work.
Civil protection officers extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, November 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Gaza’s health ministry says around 43,800 Palestinians were killed during the war. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children account for more than half of the deaths.
Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian population have been displaced and large areas have been razed by Israeli bombings and ground operations.
Pope Francis has called for an investigation into whether Israeli attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts published Sunday from a forthcoming book.
Three 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 while they were away.
Police did not provide details on the suspects, but officials pointed the finger at domestic political criticism of Netanyahu.
The prime minister has faced mass protests for months. Critics blame him for security and intelligence failures that enabled the Oct. 7 attack and for failing to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the hostages.
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His government also faces anger from the ultra-Orthodox community over military conscription notices. Some protested in the ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, on Sunday after the government announced 7,000 new notices would be issued.
