{"id":521813,"date":"2026-04-09T17:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521813\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:26:10","slug":"the-deadliest-10-minutes-in-decades-lebanese-reel-from-israeli-strikes-that-killed-hundreds-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521813\/","title":{"rendered":"The deadliest 10 minutes in decades: Lebanese reel from Israeli strikes that killed hundreds | Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took Israel only 10 minutes to carry out one of the worst mass-killings in Lebanon<\/a> since the end of the country\u2019s civil war in 1990.<\/p>\n

Omar Rakha heard the war planes but did not feel the explosions; it was only when he woke up face down on the street, bleeding, that he understood what had happened: the building next to his in the Barbour neighbourhood of central Beirut had been destroyed by two Israeli bombs. He then ran through the flaming wreckage to find his sister, screaming.<\/p>\n

Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut on Wednesday. Photograph: Hassan Ammar\/AP<\/p>\n

Shaden Fakih, a 24-year-old calisthenics trainer, also ran towards the impact site; his friend Mahmoud was inside the struck building. He could only get so close; the multistorey building was a pile of burning rubble. Fakih began to pull people out of the apartments in front of the site, carrying in his arms an old woman who could not walk. There was no sign of Mahmoud and the neighbourhood \u2013 once thought to be safe from Israeli bombs \u2013 felt like a war zone.<\/p>\n

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was in the emergency room when the casualties began to arrive. Among the wounded were children pulled from under the rubble; many arrived alone, without parents, their identities unknown. \u201cThe youngest was an 11-month-old. I had to operate on him just to relieve some pressure in the head,\u201d said Abu-Sittah, who works as a surgeon at the American University of Beirut Medical College (AUBMC).<\/p>\n

Rescue workers search the rubble for survivors and casualties in Beirut. Photograph: Daniel Carde\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The flood of wounded came after Israel bombed more than 100 targets across Lebanon in those 10 minutes on Wednesday, killing more than 300 people and wounding 1,165, according to an initial count by Lebanon\u2019s civil defence. The death toll, which was expected to rise as more bodies were found, was higher than Beirut\u2019s 2020 port explosion \u2013 one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it had hit Hezbollah<\/a> \u201ccommand and control centres\u201d in the bombing campaign, which it dubbed \u201cOperation Eternal Darkness\u201d.<\/p>\n

But residents and Lebanese officials said the strikes, which used 1,000lb bombs in densely packed residential areas of Beirut, mainly killed civilians. Lebanon\u2019s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, accused Israel in a statement of targeting \u201cdensely populated residential neighbourhoods\u201d and killing unarmed civilians in breach of international law.<\/p>\n

Abu-Sittah said most of the people were wounded in a very short period of time, which was \u201cintentional to flood the health system\u201d, and he compared the aftermath to the mass casualty events he saw while working in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The AUBMC received about 70 wounded people all at once; many critically injured, according to Dr Firass Abiad, a surgeon and Lebanon\u2019s former health minister. Crush injuries, lots of elderly people, a woman who had to have both her legs amputated \u2013 Abiad rattled off the toll of the day in a tired voice.<\/p>\n

Destroyed buildings and burned vehicles in the Corniche al-Mazraa area of Beirut. Photograph: Houssam Shbaro\/Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a 90-year-old who I just left a bit ago. He passed away from his wounds \u2026 There was nothing we could do,\u201d Abiad said. \u201cThese are civilians who, without any warning, their whole apartment building was flattened. So you can imagine the severity of injuries that we\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

First responders in Barbour worked to find people trapped under the rubble. Firefighters sprayed water on the smouldering remains of the building while forklifts lifted crumpled cars to clear the road for ambulances. An emergency worker on the scene said they had not yet found any survivors, only pieces of people.<\/p>\n

A man FaceTimed his son, showing him a crumpled car. \u201cYou said it was a Volkswagen?\u201d he said, haplessly looking at the crowd around him as he inspected the car. Its badge had been blown off the bumper and the twisted metal left the car unrecognisable.<\/p>\n

Rakha watched as the civil defence worked. \u201cI really didn\u2019t think something like this would happen here. Nothing like this happened in the last war [and] because of that all of the refugees came here for safety,\u201d the 38-year-old supermarket owner said, his head wrapped in a blood-stained bandage.<\/p>\n

A man carries pieces of clothing at the site of an Israeli strike in Ain al-Mraiseh, Beirut. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Barbour, like many of the areas in Beirut that Israel struck on Wednesday, is a mixed neighbourhood where Hezbollah enjoys little support. As more than 1.1 million people were displaced by Israeli bombing over the last month, schools in Barbour opened their doors to shelter the fleeing families.<\/p>\n

The neighbourhood had not previously been considered within the scope of Israel\u2019s war in Lebanon. But Israel\u2019s military suggested on Wednesday that such areas had now become targets, claiming they had been infiltrated by Hezbollah fighters.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Wednesday: \u201cRecently, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] observed the terrorist group Hezbollah began leaving the Shiite strongholds in the suburbs and repositioning itself towards northern Beirut and the mixed areas of the city.\u201d He vowed that Israel would \u201ccontinue to pursue\u201d Hezbollah fighters wherever they might be located.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military\u2019s statements and bombing erased any hope that the ceasefire with Iran might also halt the war in Lebanon. The war, which started after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel on 2 March prompting an Israeli bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon, has left around 1,800 people dead and 5,873 wounded in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Barbour\u2019s residents rejected Israel\u2019s explanation of its attacks, saying the strikes were driving even Hezbollah\u2019s critics towards the group.<\/p>\n

The funeral of Mohammed Zain Al-Abidin Shehab, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Fakih said: \u201cIt\u2019s getting ridiculous. There\u2019s no Hezbollah here, the Israelis are just getting happy when they bomb people, it\u2019s not about Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust stop bombing us. If you want to kill Hezbollah, go for it, but don\u2019t kill civilians, because you\u2019re creating anger in us against Israel and we will have to act like Hezbollah just to defend our country. But I don\u2019t want to do that, I just want to live in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

As night fell, people began to take stock of the dizzying, bloody day. Pictures of dust-covered babies pulled out from under rubble circulated on WhatsApp groups as people searched for their relatives.<\/p>\n

People shared a selfie of a smiling elderly couple, Mohammed and Khatoun Karshat, desperately asking if anyone had seen them after they went missing in one of the strikes. Their bodies were found under the rubble late in the night, and people kept sharing their selfie, now in memoriam.<\/p>\n

Fakih lingered by the impact site in Barbour as rescuers worked. It had been hours and he had not heard from his friend Mahmoud; his calls went to voicemail.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the worst day since the war started,\u201d Fakih said. \u201cAnd what I\u2019m most sad about is that my pretty Lebanon, our beautiful Lebanon, soon it will all be brought down to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

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