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The Israeli assault came without warning and was by far the heaviest single wave of attacks on Lebanon over the past five weeks. In Beirut, the speed and scale of the bombardment stunned a population that has experienced successive wars, but rarely like this: strikes landing almost simultaneously, in broad daylight, while the streets were crowded. Thick black smoke billowed across the city as the sound of ambulances echoed through the streets. Authorities urged residents to remain indoors to allow emergency responders to move through the traffic-clogged roads. Dalia said the shock has yet to settle. “It’s surreal,” she said. “Did this really happen? Was it really this close to home? I really don’t think I’ve processed it yet.”
Hours after its initial spate of airstrikes, the Israeli military bombed a nine-story residential building in Beirut’s Tallet al-Khayyat neighborhood, trapping residents under the rubble. Outside of Beirut, at least ten people were killed during a funeral in the town of Shmustar in eastern Lebanon. Three girls were killed in Adloun, a coastal area in the south. A family of four was killed in the northeastern village of Mansoura. Four people were killed in a strike on the southeastern town of Majadel.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told Al Jazeera that, “Hospitals are overcrowded with martyrs and the wounded.” Hospitals across Beirut quickly issued urgent calls for blood donations. At St. George Hospital in Geitawi, a nurse hurriedly organized donors in the blood bank, urging those with type O blood to come forward. In the hospital’s lobby and courtyard, people clutched their phones, some sobbing as a drone buzzed overhead.
