Deadly Israel strike hits close to Beirut hospital

Thirteen people, including a child, have been killed in an Israeli strike near a hospital in southern Beirut, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says.

The overnight attack near Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Lebanon’s biggest public health facility, located a few kilometres from the city centre, also wounded 57 people, the ministry said on Tuesday. Rescuers were searching for survivors beneath the rubble.

Israel had issued evacuation warnings shortly before targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs with heavy strikes.

There was no warning, however, for the area around Rafik Hariri Hospital, which is densely populated and has seen an influx of people displaced from areas farther south.

Nearly a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed at least 1,489 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese Health Ministry figures.

More than a million people are reported to have been displaced, and tens of thousands have crossed the border to neighbouring Syria.

The overnight strikes on Beirut’s Ouzai and Jnah neighbourhoods triggered an exodus of residents, piling more pressure on shelters struggling to accommodate the displaced.