Death toll from Israeli bombing of Lebanon’s capital Beirut rises to 45

The death toll from the Israeli army’s bombing of the south of Beirut on Friday has risen to 45, authorities confirmed on Sunday, adding that search and rescue efforts are continuing in the area.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Centre has indicated that rescue teams are still clearing debris in the area and has confirmed that the process of identifying victims has already begun, as reported by the Lebanese state news agency, NNA.

Lebanese authorities said Saturday that at least three children were among the dead, putting the number of dead at around 70, including Ibrahim Akil, a senior official in the main military body of the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah who was identified by Israel as the target of the bombing.

Akil was meeting with senior Hezbollah commanders under a residential building in a southern Beirut neighborhood when the attack took place, which, according to the Israeli version, killed 15 other Hezbollah commanders, including Ahmed Wahbi, the group’s training officer.

The bombing came days after a wave of coordinated explosions on communications equipment allegedly by Hezbollah, which left around 40 people dead and some 3,000 injured. Much of the international community, including the United Nations, has expressed concern over the incident due to the indiscriminate nature of the attack.

The escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah – a group supported by Iran that has significant military and political clout in Lebanon – has raised fears of the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. In this context, the Israeli army presented its “operational plans” regarding Lebanon to the United States last week.