Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut, Killing Seven Hours After U.S.-Israel Ceasefire

Israeli airstrikes hit several densely populated commercial and residential areas in central Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the United States and Israel announced a ceasefire in their war with Iran.

“Shelling and Israeli airstrikes continued relentlessly Saturday in several regions of southern Lebanon, as raids targeted vehicles on the highway linking Beirut to the south of the country”

Ici Beyrouth

The strikes were described by Israel as the largest coordinated assault in the current war, hitting more than 100 Hezbollah targets in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Beqaa Valley in 10 minutes, and Black smoke rose over parts of the coastal capital.

Ici Beyrouth

Lebanon’s social affairs minister Haneed Saeed condemned the wide-ranging Israeli attack in an interview with The Associated Press, calling it a very dangerous turning point.

At the Mazraa district site of the attack, Mohammad Blouza, a Beirut municipal council member, said, "Look at these crimes."

The number of dead and wounded was not immediately clear after the central Beirut strikes, but the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said airstrikes hit at least five areas in central and coastal Beirut.

Lebanon fears a long-term Israeli occupation amid attacks on Hezbollah, and Saeed said the injuries were now in the heart of Beirut, with about half of the internally displaced people located in Beirut in that area.

TRT Français

In the same account, a Hezbollah official told AP that the group was offering mediators a chance to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but "we have not committed to a ceasefire because the Israelis do not commit to it".

The Israeli army said it targeted missile launch platforms, command centers, and intelligence infrastructure, and urged the Lebanese state and its civilians to reject Hezbollah’s access to civilian areas and its armed capabilities.

In southern Lebanon, AFP reported that an Israeli airstrike near the city of Sidon killed a Hamas senior leader, identified by a movement source as “the Hamas leader Wasam Taha,” and that the strike “targeted him in an apartment building in Sidon,” where the largest Palestinian refugee camps are located.

“Rescue workers and local residents search through the rubble of a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saksakieh, southern Lebanon, on May 9, 2026”

Today

The same AFP account said Israel’s foreign minister denied any intention to hold direct negotiations with Lebanon to end the war, and Foreign Minister Gadi Saar said, “The answer is no.”

Lebanese authorities stated on Thursday that Israeli attacks have killed 733, wounded 1,933, and displaced 822,000, and TRT Français said 23 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes since Saturday morning.

In Beirut, the Lebanese Civil Defense managed today to evacuate one injured person and recover the bodies of five people killed following Israeli air strikes on Debbine over the past two days, while rescue access was hindered by Israeli military activity and the "Mechanism."