Beirut:

Lebanon said four people, including a child, were killed Monday in Israeli airstrikes near the country’s largest public hospital near south Beirut, with state media reporting more than a dozen strikes.

“The Israeli enemy strike near Hariri Hospital is believed to have killed four people, including a child, and injured 24 others,” the Health Ministry said, adding that it caused “significant damage to the hospital.”

In a separate statement, the ministry said the attack hit the entrance to the hospital, “which is still operating and receiving a large number of patients.”

He denied Israeli army claims that Hezbollah was storing half a billion dollars under the Sahel hospital in south Beirut.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported at least three Israeli strikes in the Ouzai neighborhood in southern Beirut.

Although most areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs had been deserted for almost a month, the densely populated residential area of ​​Ouzai was still filled with people as it had never been attacked before.

– “No place to escape” –

The NPA reported more than a dozen strikes in various southern Beirut neighborhoods, including Haret Hreik, south of Ouzai, and Hadat.

Hezbollah-linked rescuers told AFP they were searching for survivors amid the destruction in Ouzai, adding that the evacuation order and then the strike caused “panic among residents” who “started running through the streets.”

“They left no room for people to escape. The strike happened immediately after the warning,” one of them said.

A Lebanese security official told AFP the country’s national airline had to change its runway after Israeli strikes on Beirut’s only international airport struck near the main runway.

“Middle East Airlines changed the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the Uzai strike site,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

AFPTV footage showed plumes of smoke rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs, while AFP correspondents also heard several loud explosions before the strikes.

The footage also shows two impacts that caused a huge fire surrounded by black smoke and dissipating orange flames.

Shortly before the strikes, the Israeli military, in its latest such call, urged residents to leave parts of southern Beirut.

Military spokesman Avichai Adraei posted a new call on social media, identifying several locations to be evacuated, including an area near Beirut airport.

“You are near Hezbollah-related sites and installations that the IDF will be operating against in the near future,” he wrote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)