Middle East: Israel strikes Beirut, rejects cease-fire

Officials in Lebanon said the Israeli airstrike on Nabatiyeh targeted a municipal building where a meeting coordinating relief efforts was taking place. The mayor of the city is said to have been killed by the strike.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of "deliberately targeting" the meeting.

Mikati "condemned the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh, which deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city's services and relief situation," he said in a statement. 

Mikati accused the international community of being "silent" about Israeli strikes that have killed civilians and attacks on peacekeepers. "What solution can be hoped for in light of this reality?" he added.

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said in a separate statement that a civil defense member was among those killed during the meeting held to coordinate relief work and aid distribution for people who have remained in southern Lebanon.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said in a news conference in Berlin that it is close to a possible breaking point for its operations in the Gaza Strip.

The organization cited increasingly complicated conditions for carrying out its work.

"I will not hide the fact that we might reach a point that we won't be able anymore to operate," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.

"We are very near to a possible breaking point. When will it be? I don't know. But we are very near [to] that," he added.

Lazzarini also called for more access for international media organizations to Gaza to report on the situation on the ground, saying that "most of the information that we are receiving is either by ... local journalists or by organizations operating in Gaza."

Five people were killed in Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Sources told Reuters and AFP news agencies that the town's mayor was among those killed.

"The Israeli enemy raid ... on two buildings, that of the Nabatieh municipality and the union of municipalities, killed five people in a preliminary toll," the ministry said in a statement, adding that rescuers were searching for survivors under the rubble.

Israel's army also struck surrounding areas, including Zebdine and Kfar Tebnit.

The mayor of Nabatiyeh is believed to be among those killed.

"The mayor of Nabatieh, among others ... was martyred. It's a massacre," Nabatiyeh municipal governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding the mayor had been in the building at the time of the strike.

Israel commented on the strike by saying it had struck dozens of targets in the Nabatiyeh area and dismantled underground infrastructure.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to do something to stop "crimes and invasions" and to provide humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Gaza.

Araghchi also said that "Iran, while making all-out efforts to protect the peace and security of the region, is fully prepared for a decisive and regretful response to any adventures" by Israel.

"Responsibility of consequences of spreading insecurity in the region will be on the regime and the United States as [the] main supporter," of Israel, he added.

Iran is Hezbollah's main backer in the region and the country also supports Israel's foe to the south, Palestinian Hamas.

Over the past week, the Iranian foreign minister has visited Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Oman in an effort to ease tensions.

An Israeli strike hit southern Beirut on Wednesday, media sources reported. Israel's army said its jets had hit a Hezbollah underground strategic weapons storage depot.

It was the first strike on the Lebanese capital in five days.

It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of a cease-fire in Lebanon.

Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that he was "opposed to a unilateral cease-fire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which will only return it to the way it was", according to a statement from his office.

The strike occurred less than an hour after the Israeli military ordered residents to leave part of the city. Black smoke billowed from between buildings in Haret Hreik.

Earlier, the Israeli military had urged residents to evacuate a specific building in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The military gave the warning in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that it was set to hit Hezbollah targets there.

Israel has been criticized for its evacuation warnings, with Amnesty International calling them "inadequate," "misleading" and "issued at short notice."

Seeking ways to avoid a "general conflagration" in the Middle East will be at the top of the agenda when European Union and Gulf leaders attend a summit in Brussels, according to European officials.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be in attendance on Wednesday along with heads of state and government from six Gulf countries.

Israel's conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, and the risk of a broader regional war, are expected to be "the main topic" at the summit, EU officials said.

"One of the objectives is to avoid a general conflagration," the news agency AFP reported one official as saying. "Both sides are worried about this."

The EU is seeking closer ties with nations from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which brings together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

jcg,js/ab (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)