An Israeli strike hit an apartment block in central Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese authorities said, further widening Israeli attacks in the capital beyond the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs where heavy bombardment continued.
Israel launched an offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah after it opened fire on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Israeli strikes have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon and uprooted 800,000 more, Lebanese authorities say.
The Israeli military ordered reinforcements to the area bordering Lebanon including its elite Golani Brigade. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Hezbollah fighters were braced for the possibility of a full-scale Israeli invasion of the south.
'THIS IS A NIGHTMARE'
Footage showed heavy damage to two floors of the apartment block in Beirut's Aisha Bakkar neighborhood, and smoke rising from the building. Four people were wounded in the strike, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.
"The sound was indescribable, the fear is indescribable. Enough is enough, enough. This is a nightmare, when will it end?" said Bassima Ramadan, a woman living across the street who was woken up by the strike around 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT).
It would mark the second Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut in four days. On Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a hotel in a seafront neighborhood. Israel said that strike killed five senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which established Hezbollah in 1982.
Israel kept up heavy strikes on the southern suburbs on Wednesday, sending towers of smoke billowing across the skyline.
Israel has ordered residents of the suburbs to leave, along with residents of a swathe of southern Lebanon and parts of the east - all areas where Hezbollah has a grip on security and political sway.
MEDIC, PRIEST KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES
Over 100,000 people are in organized shelters, while others are staying with friends, family or are on the streets.
After fleeing her village in the south, Mariam Rida, 73, said she spent $110 for a night at a hotel, then three nights sleeping under a Beirut bridge and a few nights at a school-turned-shelter.
"I want to go back to my hometown. I'm afraid, I'm scared for myself. There are strikes here and there are strikes there, I’m confused about where to go," said Rida.
Displaced people have struggled to reach shelters and once they do, they are living in "super rough conditions," said Maureen Philippon, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Lebanon director.
Shelters lack showers and sufficient toilets, several families occupy the same rooms and there are fears of infectious diseases spreading, she told Reuters.
Lebanon's health ministry said on Wednesday that 634 people had been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in Israeli strikes since March 2.
This week's toll includes Catholic priest Pierre al-Rahi and Red Cross medic Youssef Assaf. Both died after sustaining injuries in separate Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon earlier this week and were buried on Wednesday.
Pope Leo offered his condolences for Rahi on Wednesday, saying he was a "true shepherd" who was killed while trying to help parishioners injured in a strike.
The International Committee of the Red Cross mourned Assaf in a statement posted on social media, saying Assaf "lost his life while carrying out his humanitarian duty".
ISRAEL PRESSES LEBANON AT UN
The Israeli military says it has struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets since March 2, launching daily airstrikes in the south, Beirut's southern suburbs, and the Bekaa Valley.
The Israeli military has sent more soldiers into south Lebanon and established new positions it said would help prevent Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel.
Lebanon said last year it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms and its cabinet last week outlawed Hezbollah's military activities.
But Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said on Wednesday that Beirut needed to take direct action.
"If Hezbollah is being dismantled, what are the evidence? What are the operations against the launch sites? Where are the seizures of their weapons? Where is your military?" Danon said.
