At least 11 killed and dozens injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut

At least 11 people were killed and dozens more injured after Israeli airstrikes devastated parts of central Beirut on Saturday – with diplomats scrambling to broker a ceasefire in the country. 

The strike destroyed an eight-story building, leaving a crater in the ground, and was the fourth on the Lebanese capital in less than a week. 

Lebanon’s civil defence said the death toll was provisional as emergency responders were still digging through the rubble looking for survivors. 

A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre killed one person and injured another, according to the country’s National News Agency. 

Israel’s military did not issue a warning for residents to evacuate prior to the strikes in central Beirut and would not comment on those strikes or on the one in Tyre. 

The news comes as heavy ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants continues in southern Lebanon, with Israeli troops pushing farther from the border. 

US envoy Amos Hochstein travelled to the region this week in an attempt to broker a ceasefire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into full-on war over the last two months. 

More than 3,500 people have been killed and over 15,000 wounded by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 1.2 million people, or a quarter of the Lebanese population, were reportedly displaced by the fighting. 

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in fighting in Lebanon.