Israeli strike in Beirut kills Palestinian group leaders

A Palestinian militant group has said that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the first attack within city limits as Israel escalated hostilities against Iran's allies in the region.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut's Kola district.

The strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building in the Kola district of Lebanon's capital, Reuters witnesses said.

The PFLP is another militant group taking part in the fight against Israel.

Israel has turned its focus from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days, carrying out attacks on Iran's regional allies.

Strikes on Hezbollah targets killed the Iran-backed group's leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

This morning's drone attack targeted a "flat belonging to Jamaa Islamiya", a Lebanese Islamist group, a security source said.

The group said in a statement that its military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and Abdelrahman Abdel-Aal were killed.

The Israeli military said it had launched fresh strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon's Bekaa region.

Israel "will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon", the army said in a statement on Telegram.

Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport.

AFP journalists reported drones flying over the Lebanese capital throughout yesterday.

Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the country's 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanon's health ministry reported at least 105 people killed in Israeli strikes yesterday, with 359 people wounded.

In the last week, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, the ministry said.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon" and more than 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria.

Prime Minister Mikati said up to one million people may have been uprooted, in potentially the "largest displacement movement" in Lebanon's history.

Israeli aggression on Lebanon has sparked fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.

The Israeli army has said it "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory".

Israel said it also carried out strikes in Yemen yesterday, targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebel positions.

Houthi media reports said those strikes killed four people and wounded 33.

The raids in Yemen came a day after the Houthis said they launched a missile at an Israeli airport, trying to hit it as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning from New York.

Read more about the conflict in the Middle East

The Israeli military has said its operations in Lebanon aim to eliminate Hezbollah's leadership and capacity to attack Israel.

It said the air strike that killed Nasrallah also "eliminated" another 20 Hezbollah members, including senior leaders.

Israel also said another strike yesterday killed Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah's central council.

Analysts told AFP Nasrallah's death leaves a bruised Hezbollah under pressure to respond.

Lebanon has begun a three-day national mourning period for Nasrallah, with flags to fly at half-mast on public buildings. Iraq, Iran and Syria also declared public mourning periods.

Iran has said Nasrallah's killing would bring about Israel's "destruction".

World leaders have called for a de-escalation to avoid a wider regional conflict.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot met with Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Lebanon last night - the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since the Israeli strikes intensified - and said Paris sought "an immediate halt" to Israeli strikes.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a statement calling for Lebanon's "sovereignty and territorial integrity" to be respected.

US President Joe Biden - whose government is Israel's top arms supplier - said yesterday a wider war "really has to be avoided".

In Gaza, the territory's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes yesterday killed several people.

Hamas's unprecedented 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,595 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.