Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Tuesday reported that 13 people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli strike near a hospital in south Beirut the previous night, revising its initial toll from four.
Another 57 people were wounded in the strike near the Rafik Hariri Hospital, Lebanon’s largest public health facility, situated a few kilometers from the city center, according to the ministry. The hospital, located in the Jnah neighborhood, sustained minor damage, while four nearby buildings were flattened by the strike, as reported by an AFP correspondent on the scene.
Rescue operations were still underway on Tuesday, with emergency responders searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble. A cell phone ringing under chunks of concrete indicated possible survivors.
The strike on Monday night was part of a broader Israeli bombardment targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs, following evacuation warnings to residents. However, the area around Rafik Hariri Hospital, a densely populated zone that has seen a significant influx of people displaced from the south, received no such warning before the strike.
The Ouzai neighborhood, just minutes away from Jnah, was also hit for the first time during this conflict, as reported by Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has raged for nearly a month, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,489 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese Health Ministry figures. The fighting has displaced over a million people within Lebanon, with many seeking refuge across the border in neighboring Syria.
The strikes on Ouzai and Jnah have triggered a mass exodus of residents, further straining shelters that are struggling to accommodate the influx of displaced families. Many of these shelters are operating beyond capacity, creating a humanitarian crisis amidst the ongoing violence.
