Hamas Leader in Lebanon killed, Israel Targets Beirut

Palestinian militant group Hamas has said its leader in Lebanon was killed in the early hours of Monday morning, amid a series of Israeli airstrikes including the first to hit central Beirut.

Fateh Sherif Abu El-Amin, Hamas ' leader in Lebanon, was killed along with his wife, son, and daughter, in a strike that targeted their house in a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre, Hamas has said.

Israel has hit targets across Lebanon and killed 1,030 people over the past week according to the country's Health Ministry, as Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The first strike against central Beirut early this morning hit a multistory residential building, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building.

Palestinian faction The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said three of its members were killed in the airstrike.

The Lebanon-based group has not played a significant role in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a statement the group said its military and security commanders in Lebanon, and a third member, were killed in the attack.

Israel has frequently targeted Beirut's southern suburbs over the last week, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Until Sunday, strikes had not yet hit locations near the city center.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

In their latest statement, Hezbollah confirmed the death of its seventh senior leader killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of its Central Council, was killed on Saturday.

The group also confirmed the death of Ali Karaki, another senior commander, in the same strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah.

Israel said at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including one in charge of Nasrallah's security detail.

At least 105 people were killed in airstrikes on Sunday, the Lebanese Health Ministry has said.

Strikes included two near the southern city of Sidon, 28 miles south of Beirut, which killed at least 32 people, the ministry confirmed.

Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel are reported to have killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and Western Bekaa and in the south.

Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.

In a video of a strike in Sidon, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors shot footage.

The Lebanese Health Ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south.

On the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hama last year 1,195 mainly civilians were killed and 251 hostages were taken into Gaza, representing the greatest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust.

In response to Israeli strikes, Hezbollah has increased its rocket attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said.

Most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems or fell in open areas.

Several injuries were reported and damage to infrastructure was caused.

The Israeli military said the number of launches would have been higher if they had not struck Hezbollah.

There are concerns that increasing conflict in the region could lead to all out war.

Following Friday's attacks on Hezbollah, on Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, threatened to levy "even more crushing" blows against Israel .

Iran backs Hezbollah and Hamas, and has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Hamidreza Azizi, research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) think tank in Berlin, told Newsweek that Iran faces a difficult next move , especially following pledges to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, in July.

"The equation that Iran was thinking about showing a decisive response that would prevent further Israeli activities against Iranian interests without entering into a war seems not to be available anymore after what has what has happened to Hezbollah," Azizi told Newsweek.

Iran had vowed to avenge the Israeli attack on Tehran's consulate in Damascus in April, but its missile and drone attacks on Israel was not a deterrent, Azizi added.

"After that, the dilemma was for Iran any move beyond that could trigger war," said Azizi. "That was why they didn't respond to Haniyeh, and it actually seems to be quite late to establish that sort of deterrence.

"This doesn't mean that Iran may not do something, but any move at this moment has the risk of an escalation more than before."

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .

An all-out war must be avoided, he told reporters, "it has to be."

This includes reporting from The Associated Press