Many looked in vain for space in one of the overflowing schools-turned-shelters. By the morning, hundreds of families were sleeping in public squares, on beaches or in cars around Beirut.
A woman watches over sleeping children as shelter outside after being displaced by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: Getty Images
Lines of people trudged up to the mountains above the Lebanese capital, holding infants and a few belongings.
The people escaping Friday night’s mayhem joined tens of thousands who have fled to Beirut and other areas of southern Lebanon the past week to escape Israel’s bombardment.
The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled and now stands at more than 211,000. At least 20 primary healthcare centres have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday called Nasrallah “a terrorist with American blood on his hands,” while urging a diplomatic solution to stem the escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.Credit: Getty Images
The White House sees the death of Nasrallah as a huge blow to the militant group. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel ’s war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran.
“President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war,” Harris said in a statement reacting to confirmation of Nasrallah’s killing in an Israeli airstrike. She added: “Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region.”
In Iraq, on Saturday, local time, hundreds of protesters tried to cross into the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US Embassy is based, in anger over the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias have periodically launched drone attacks on bases housing US troops in protest over Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A protest against the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Karachi, Pakistan.Credit: AP
Late on Wednesday (US time), the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations. Israel said Thursday that discussions were ongoing and Hezbollah hasn’t officially responded to the cease-fire proposal, but has said it won’t stop firing until the Gaza war ends.
Hezbollah began striking Israel a day after Hamas’ October 7 attack in an act of solidarity with the Palestinians. The sides have exchanged relatively low-level fire since then on almost a daily basis, volleys that intensified sharply after a wave of exploding communication devices targeted Hezbollah operatives – an attack widely blamed on Israel. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1300 children under the age of 2.
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Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself.
“This war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages,” Netanyahu told the UN on Saturday (US time). “But if they don’t – if they don’t – we will fight until we achieve total victory. Total victory. There is no substitute for it. ”
His speech impacted the rest of the General Assembly
In an address steeped in talk of conflict, Netanyahu also made a lengthy appeal for Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, echoing the content of his speech last year, when efforts toward that goal were underway. But the US-backed normalisation talks were derailed by Hamas’ attacks, which refocused a spotlight on Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, casting doubt on Netanyahu’s argument that ties with Saudi Arabia are not contingent on Palestinian statehood.
