At least 254 killed after Israel hits Lebanon with massive wave of airstrikes

Israel has carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing at least 254 people and wounding 837, an assault that prompted Iranian officials to warn Tehran could withdraw from the ceasefire agreed with the US overnight. Warplanes levelled several buildings in the centre of Beirut, filling the skies with smoke in what Israel’s defence minister said was “a surprise strike” on the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah. The Lebanese capital was filled with cars crumpled by the blasts and the flaming wreckage of buildings that first responders struggled to extinguish, as Israel bombed more than 100 Hezbollah military sites around the country. The office of Israel’s prime minister said the two-week Middle East ceasefire did not include Lebanon, contrary to a statement made by mediator Pakistan – while Trump, after initially remaining silent, said Lebanon was “a separate skirmish” and not part of the deal. View image in fullscreen Israeli targets in Beirut hit by missiles on Wednesday included the Bechara El Khoury neighbourhood in the centre of the city. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images Hospitals in Lebanon put out urgent calls for blood donations , while the ministry of health urged people to “clear the streets” so ambulances could reach the injured. People rushed home to check on their families. A man was filmed as he ran towards a struck building in the Chiyah neighbourhood, screaming: “There are people inside!” Pictures of rubble-covered children circulated on social media as people tried to find their parents. “I have a friend in this building, Mahmoud. I don’t know where he is. He’s not answering his phone. We need to stop this war, it’s getting ridiculous,” said Shaden Fakih, a 24-year-old calisthenics trainer who was present when an Israeli strike brought down a building in the Barbour neighbourhood of central Beirut. Iranian sources told the country’s Tasnim news agency that Iran was ready to exit the ceasefire agreement if Israel “persists in violating the truce in Lebanon”, and the crisis was discussed by Iran’s foreign minister and his Pakistani counterpart. Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, said the two theatres – Iran and Lebanon – were separate and said the aim was to “change the reality in Lebanon and remove threats from the residents of the north”. The Israeli politician went on to directly threaten Hezbollah’s leader. “We warned Naim Qassem that Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price for attacking Israel on Iran’s behalf – and Naim Qassem’s personal turn will come too,” he said. The Israeli military’s Arabic language spokesperson suggested Israel would begin striking deeper in Beirut, having previously confined most of its strikes to the southern suburbs, where support for Hezbollah is common. The spokesperson said Hezbollah was “repositioning itself” in mixed neighbourhoods of the city and vowed to pursue Hezbollah fighters no matter their location. Shortly after the statement, Israel brought down another building in the Tallet al-Khayet neighbourhood of west Beirut, which had not yet been hit in this war. The suggestion that strikes could hit anywhere in Beirut terrified the city’s residents. “Where can I go? All of Lebanon is being struck. [Israel] finished with Iran and now they want to start with us,” a resident present at the time of the Barbour strike said, asking not to be identified. Trump said he was aware of the Israeli bombing, and said that Lebanon was “not included in the deal” because of Hezbollah. Asked if the Israeli attacks were acceptable to him, the US president said it was “a separate skirmish”. Strike hits Tyre in Lebanon after Israeli evacuation order Until the wave of airstrikes by Israel across Lebanon on Wednesday, Hezbollah had not announced any attacks against Israel since the ceasefire announcement – a first since the war between it and Israel began on 2 March. Initially Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, said Iran, the US and their allies had “agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere” as he announced the ceasefire overnight. Highways leading south in Lebanon were choked with traffic as dawn broke. Residents were attempting to return to their homes, though Hezbollah urged people not to return to certain villages because Israeli troops remained there. Iran’s 10-point peace plan, nominally accepted as a basis for negotiations by Trump, called for an end of the war against “all components of the ‘axis of resistance’”, which, for Tehran, includes Hezbollah. View image in fullscreen Areas of Beirut were devastated by the Israeli attack on Wednesday. Photograph: Dylan Collins/AFP/Getty Images There were signs on Tuesday that the wider diplomatic conversation, mediated in Pakistan between the US and Iran, had come to a conclusion without Israel’s immediate input. Trump called Netanyahu to inform the Israeli leader of his decision shortly before making his ceasefire announcement. The Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu had failed politically and strategically. “There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history. Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security,” he posted in the morning. View image in fullscreen First responders gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle in Saida, Lebanon. Photograph: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images The five-week war in Lebanon has brought the country to breaking point. More than 1.1 million people have been forcibly displaced, many of whom left living on the streets. More than 1,530 people had been killed and 4,812 wounded by Israeli airstrikes, Lebanon’s ministry of health said on Tuesday. Several air raids on Israel took place in the first part of the night but stopped shortly before 3.30am, about 40 minutes after the Pakistani prime minister’s ceasefire announcement. No incoming attacks have been reported since.