Israel's deadliest Lebanon strikes kill 250, threaten fragile US-Iran ceasefire
Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said early on Thursday it fired rockets at northern Israel in its first attack against the country since the US reached a two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran.
Hezbollah said in a statement that its attack came in response to what it described as Israeli ceasefire violations on Wednesday.
Death and destruction in Lebanon
A total of 254 people were killed and over 1,100 wounded across Lebanon, the country’s civil defence service said. The highest toll was in Beirut, where 91 people were killed. The health ministry gave a toll of 182 dead across the country and said it was not a final figure.
“The scale of the killing and destruction in Lebanon today is nothing short of horrific,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. “Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief.”
First responders and residents gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s Tallet al-Khayyat neighbourhood, on April 8, 2026
Israeli strikes pummel Lebanon, killing 250
Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, killing more than 250 people on Wednesday.
The strikes raised questions about regional truce efforts, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian saying a ceasefire in Lebanon was an essential condition of his country’s agreement with the US.
On Wednesday afternoon, at least five consecutive strikes rocked the capital Beirut, sending columns of smoke into the sky as Israel’s military said it had launched the largest coordinated strike of the war. More than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites were targeted in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon within ten minutes, it said.
