An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Hezbollah's acting leader promised the group will fight on following the death of its long-time head Hassan Nasrallah . The early Monday airstrike — the first to hit central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict — killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops.
Separately, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence — including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah — but had not hit locations near the city center. Hezbollah's acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group’s fighters are ready — noting that the commanders killed have already been replaced.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes on Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 peo.
