An Israeli airstrike hit Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday, November 17, 2024. (Hussein Malla/AP)

BEIRUT — A rare Israeli attack in central Beirut killed the chief spokesman of the Hezbollah militant group on Sunday, while an Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza killed at least 30 people, the director of a hospital there told The Associated Press.

Mohammed Afif was killed in an attack on the office of the Arab socialist Baath party in Beirut, said a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. Afif became particularly visible after all-out war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in September.

The Israeli military said in a statement that he “exercised significant influence over Hezbollah’s military operations” and “glorified and incited” attacks against Israel.

This was the latest targeted killing of senior Hezbollah officials. In another attack on Sunday night in central Beirut, a computer shop was attacked, killing two people and wounding 13, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. There has been no statement from the Israeli army yet.

The strikes occurred while Lebanese officials were considering a US-led ceasefire proposal. Israel also bombed several buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

Screams in central Beirut

There was no Israeli evacuation warning before the attack near a busy intersection in central Beirut in which Afif was killed. An AP photographer there saw four bodies and four injured. No statement was made from the Israeli army.

“I was sleeping and I woke up from the sound of the attack, people screaming, cars and gunshots,” said witness Süheil Halabi. “To be honest, I was surprised. “This is the first time I’ve experienced it this close.”

Firefighters struggled to control the blaze in the densely populated Mar Elias district after a second attack in central Beirut on Sunday night. Small explosions were heard in the store. Neighbors said they heard a second explosion and a nearby car was hit.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones at Israel the day after Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, started the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory air strikes on Lebanon and the conflict gradually escalated.

Israeli forces invaded Lebanon on October 1. On Sunday, the Israeli military said mobile artillery batteries had crossed into Lebanon and began attacking Hezbollah targets; This was the first time artillery fire was launched on Lebanese soil.

More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1.2 million have been driven from their homes, according to the Ministry of Health. It is not known how many of those killed were Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah fires dozens of missiles at Israel every day. At least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, lost their lives in the attacks, while 60 thousand people had to flee. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said a teenager was injured by an explosion in the Upper Galilee on Sunday.

The largely sidelined Lebanese army said Israel hit a military center in southeastern Al-Mari on Sunday, killing two soldiers and wounding two others. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Tension rises in Gaza

Hosam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, said dozens of injured people were found after the Israeli attack, while others were probably still under rubble.

Residents who fled told the AP that houses were hit.

The Israeli military statement stated that many attacks had previously been carried out on “terrorist targets” in Beit Lahiya. It was stated that efforts to evacuate civilians from the “active war zone” here are continuing.

Israeli forces launched an attack again in northern Gaza, claiming that Hamas militants had regrouped there.

“We didn’t sleep at all tonight,” said Dalal al-Bakri, who fled Beit Lahiya. “They destroyed all the houses around us. … There are many martyrs.”

A woman named Umm Hamza said the bombing increased throughout the night. “It’s cold and we don’t know where to go,” he said.

Officials have previously said Israeli strikes killed six people in Nuseyrat and four in Bureij, two refugee camps in central Gaza dating from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s founding.

According to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al Balah, two people were killed in the attack on Gaza’s main north-south highway.

The Israeli army announced that two soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Sunday.

The war between Israel and Hamas began when Palestinian militants raided Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250 others. Approximately 100 hostages remain in Gaza and a third are believed to be dead.

On Sunday, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said it held a joint meeting with the military and intelligence chiefs to discuss mediation efforts to free the hostages. This was the first public statement of such an effort since Qatar announced it was suspending mediation efforts earlier this month.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says approximately 43,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said more than half of the deaths were women and children.

Nearly 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian population has been displaced, and large areas of the region have been leveled by Israeli bombardment and ground operations.

Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts published in a book to be released on Sunday.

3 people who opened fire on Netanyahu’s house were arrested

Israeli police arrested three suspects after two flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea overnight.

Netanyahu and his family were not there, officials said. Last month, a drone launched by Hezbollah hit the house while they were away.

Police did not provide detailed information about the suspects, but officials pointed out domestic political critics of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has faced mass protests for months. Critics blame him for security and intelligence failures that led to the October 7 attack and for failing to reach an agreement with Hamas to release the hostages.

His government also faces ire from the ultra-Orthodox community over its military draft announcements. Some protested Sunday in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, after the government said it would issue 7,000 new proclamations.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip. Associated Press reporters Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and Kareem Chehayeb and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.