The Japan Times - Israeli strike on Beirut kills 5 as deadly rocket fire hits Israel

The Gaza crisis also heightened with the Hamas-run interior ministry saying at least 20 people were killed in an operation against the looting of aid trucks in the stricken territory.

Israel has staged three strikes in two days against central Beirut, after weeks of air raids aimed at emptying the southern suburbs stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Israel escalated its bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds in September, vowing to secure its northern border with Lebanon to so that Israelis displaced by cross-border fire can return home.

Lebanon's health ministry said five people were killed and 31 wounded in an Israeli strike Monday in Zuqaq al-Blat. Many people have fled to the densely populated district from southern Beirut.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment near a Shiite Muslim place of worship had been targeted, "causing great damage".

At least 10 people were killed in Israeli strikes around central Beirut on Sunday. Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif and four members of his media team were killed in one of the attacks.

- 'Direct hit' -

Afif is the latest senior Hezbollah official to be killed in Israel's campaign. The group's leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in September in south Beirut.

On Monday, Israel's military said Hezbollah fired around 100 projectiles into northern Israel, with some intercepted by air defences.

In Shfaram, east of the Haifa area where Hezbollah has regularly claimed attacks, a rocket hit a building and killed a woman, emergency personnel said.

The building "suffered a direct hit" and 10 people were mildly wounded, paramedics said.

In the suburbs of Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv, five people were wounded, including one woman in serious condition, after rocket fire hit central Israel, first responders said.

Hezbollah said it had launched "attack drones" against "sensitive military points... in the city of Tel Aviv".

In Beirut, Israel's strikes prompted the closure of schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days.

- US truce proposal -

Israel widened the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon after nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges, which Hezbollah said were in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,510 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.

Lebanon's government has largely endorsed a US truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and was preparing final comments before sending a response to Washington, a Lebanese official told AFP on Monday.

"Lebanon has a very positive view on this proposal," one government official who has been following the talks closely said.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein was expected in the region this week, the two sources said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Monday, however, that even with a deal Israel would "carry out operations against Hezbollah" to keep the group from rebuilding.

- Children 'torn to pieces' -

In Gaza, the Hamas authorities launched an anti-looting operation after a convoy of more than 100 UN food trucks was attacked on Saturday.

Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry said at least 20 people were killed in a security operation targeting "gangs" that looted trucks.

"More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees," said a ministry statement.

"Today's security operation will not be the last," it said, adding that "the phenomenon of truck thefts... has severely impacted society and led to signs of famine in southern Gaza".

Israel maintained its campaign in southern Gaza in response to the Hamas October 7, 2023 attacks.

"These are my children, my nephews and nieces, torn to pieces," said Al-Baraa Abu al-Hasan, who lost relatives in the attack.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war has reached 43,922, a majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

K.Nakajima--JT