Israeli strikes kill 89, wound 700 in Lebanon on Wednesday, health ministry says
Reuters
Wed, April 8, 2026
Rescuers work at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT, April 8 (Reuters) - A spokseperson for Lebanon's health ministry told Reuters that Israel's strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday had killed "89 martyrs and wounded 700 people."
The spokesperson said 12 medics were among the dead in southern Lebanon.
Reuters
Wed, April 8, 2026
Rescuers work at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT, April 8 (Reuters) - A spokseperson for Lebanon's health ministry told Reuters that Israel's strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday had killed "89 martyrs and wounded 700 people."
The spokesperson said 12 medics were among the dead in southern Lebanon.
Paul Nuki
Wed, April 8, 2026
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz heralded the ‘surprise attack’ which had been planned for some time - Hussein Malla/AP
Israel has launched a huge bombardment of Lebanon without warning, dropping 160 bombs on 100 targets within 10 minutes.
The wave of daytime strikes on Wednesday, which came despite Hezbollah saying it would abide by the US-Iranian ceasefire, was the heaviest inflicted on Lebanon since the war broke out.
The capital was rocked with simultaneous explosions, with at least 300 people killed or wounded in the city alone. Footage showed destroyed high-rise buildings, piles of smouldering rubble and wounded children.
Elsewhere across the country, Lebanon reported at least 89 killed and 700 wounded, with hospitals rapidly overflowing.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that operation “Eternal Darkness” hit 100 Iran-backed Hezbollah “command centres” and military sites across Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.
Israel had earlier insisted that the two-week ceasefire reached between the US and Iran did not apply to Lebanon. Donald Trump, the US president, initially remained silent, then agree the country was part of “a separate skirmish” and not included.
In response to the co-ordinated bombardment, Iran said it had stopped oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, also breaching the terms of the fragile ceasefire.
The move followed Tehran’s attack on the crucial east-west pipeline in Saudi Arabia, its only current outlet for crude exports, in a second violation of the truce. Other Gulf states also reported drone strikes.
Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s president, accused Israel of “perpetrating a new massacre” in defiance of efforts to restore regional stability and called for the US and other nations to intervene.
Israel Katz, Israel’s defence minister, heralded the “surprise attack”, which the IDF had been planning for some time, as the “largest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers”, referring to the 2024 operation involving pager bombs.
Earlier on Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister agreed to halt attacks on Iran but said the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon”.
This was not the understanding of either Iran or the Pakistani authorities that brokered the ceasefire agreement.
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, said on Wednesday that Iran and the US had “agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon”.
An Iranian security source told Iran’s Fars News Agency that Tehran would return to striking Israel unless the shelling of Lebanon stopped.
Iraqi authorities also accused Israel of attempting to scupper the truce agreement and prolong the conflict.
The broader ceasefire announced on Wednesday by the US president, and the adoption of Iran’s 10-point peace plan as a template for negotiations, caught many Israelis by surprise.
Reactions to the deal among Israelis ranged from cynicism to anger, causing the “anti-Bibi” opposition to predict “huge” anti-government protests on Saturday.
“There has never been such a diplomatic disaster in all of our history. Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security,” said Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, on social media.
“The military carried out everything that was asked of it, the public demonstrated amazing resilience, but Netanyahu failed politically, failed strategically, and didn’t meet a single one of the goals that he himself set.”
Although much of the country’s Right wing was quiet because of the religious holiday, Mr Lapid appeared to strike a common tone.
“If this [deal] is how the Iranians are describing, it is a disaster,” said a hotel manager in Tel Aviv. “Iran will survive and build up again.”
Others said they had little hope that the ceasefire would last. “It will just be a nice two weeks before things kick off again,” said one.
At least 300 people were killed or wounded in Beirut alone, with targets hit across Lebanon - Kawnat Haju/AFP
Mr Netanyahu had widespread backing for the war on Iran, with polls at the start of the campaign showing over 80 per cent of the Israeli population supportive, rising to 97 per cent for Jewish Israelis.
But he promised that the war, which has put normal life on hold for five weeks and wrought considerable damage across the country, would bring regime change in Iran.
He justified the cost and sacrifice by arguing that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes would be demolished once and for all, removing a long-standing existential threat to Israel.
But this has not happened.
Iran stopped oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz in response to the co-ordinated bombardment of Lebanon - Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Chico Menashe, chief operations officer of Startup Nation Central, a leading body in Israel’s tech sector, said the country was in a “very bad position”, strategically and politically.
“Nearly half a ton of enriched uranium remains in Iran – that’s horrifying. Iran’s missile stockpile remains, the regime was not toppled, their proxies in Yemen and Lebanon remain threatening and armed,” he said.
The chairman of the Democrats Party, Maj Gen Yair Golan took a similar line.
“Netanyahu promised a ‘historic victory’ but in reality, Israel received a severe strategic failure,” he said. “Blood was shed, civilians were killed, and soldiers fell, while an entire nation remained in shelters.”
Lebanon official labels Israeli strikes ‘very dangerous turning point’
Sophie Brams
Wed, April 8, 2026
A senior Lebanese official condemned Israel’s wave of airstrikes inside the country Wednesday, labeling the attack that came hours after a temporary ceasefire was announced among the U.S., Israel and Iran a “very dangerous turning point.”
“These hits are now at the heart of Beirut. … Half of the sheltered (internally displaced people) are in Beirut in this area,” Haneen Sayed, Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, told The Associated Press in an interview, adding that the country’s government was ready to enter negotiations with Israel.
“There are calls and efforts being made as we speak,” she said. Israel has reportedly not responded.
The Israeli military announced early Wednesday morning that it had launched what it called its largest coordinated strikes against Hezbollah, hitting more than 100 military sites and command centers linked to the Iran-backed group in Beirut, Bekaa and southern Lebanon.
Most of the targets were “located within the heart of the civilian population,” according to an Israeli military statement obtained by the Times of Israel. Civilian evacuation warnings were reportedly issued in some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon ahead of the barrage, but none were given for central Beirut.
The attacks targeted infrastructure in Beirut, Beqaa and southern Lebanon, most of which the military said were “located within the heart of the civilian population,” according to a statement obtained by The Times of Israel.
Al Jazeera reported Wednesday that at least 254 people were killed in Lebanon, with more than 1,165 others wounded, citing reports from Lebanese officials. More than 1,530 people in Lebanon have been killed since the new conflict erupted in early March, and more than a million more displaced, according to the AP.
An aid worker for a Chicago-based humanitarian nonprofit described the situation unfolding in the capital city as “total chaos” in an NBC News interview.
“It’s insane,” said Dr. Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director for MedGlobal. “This is an open war crime with a clear violation of any international law possible — and no one is stopping this.”
The latest airstrikes have threatened to upend the fragile truce President Trump announced Tuesday evening in which the U.S. agreed to pause military operations for two weeks in exchange for Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The optimism was short-lived, however, as Iranian state media reported Wednesday that Tehran had closed the strait again in response to the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the report “false.”
There have been conflicting signals about whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire since it was announced. Israel says it was not, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate negotiations, said the opposite.
Trump told “PBS News Hour” in a phone interview that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire, referring to Wednesday’s attack as a “separate skirmish.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sophie Brams
Wed, April 8, 2026
A senior Lebanese official condemned Israel’s wave of airstrikes inside the country Wednesday, labeling the attack that came hours after a temporary ceasefire was announced among the U.S., Israel and Iran a “very dangerous turning point.”
“These hits are now at the heart of Beirut. … Half of the sheltered (internally displaced people) are in Beirut in this area,” Haneen Sayed, Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, told The Associated Press in an interview, adding that the country’s government was ready to enter negotiations with Israel.
“There are calls and efforts being made as we speak,” she said. Israel has reportedly not responded.
The Israeli military announced early Wednesday morning that it had launched what it called its largest coordinated strikes against Hezbollah, hitting more than 100 military sites and command centers linked to the Iran-backed group in Beirut, Bekaa and southern Lebanon.
Most of the targets were “located within the heart of the civilian population,” according to an Israeli military statement obtained by the Times of Israel. Civilian evacuation warnings were reportedly issued in some areas of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon ahead of the barrage, but none were given for central Beirut.
The attacks targeted infrastructure in Beirut, Beqaa and southern Lebanon, most of which the military said were “located within the heart of the civilian population,” according to a statement obtained by The Times of Israel.
Al Jazeera reported Wednesday that at least 254 people were killed in Lebanon, with more than 1,165 others wounded, citing reports from Lebanese officials. More than 1,530 people in Lebanon have been killed since the new conflict erupted in early March, and more than a million more displaced, according to the AP.
An aid worker for a Chicago-based humanitarian nonprofit described the situation unfolding in the capital city as “total chaos” in an NBC News interview.
“It’s insane,” said Dr. Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director for MedGlobal. “This is an open war crime with a clear violation of any international law possible — and no one is stopping this.”
The latest airstrikes have threatened to upend the fragile truce President Trump announced Tuesday evening in which the U.S. agreed to pause military operations for two weeks in exchange for Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz.
The optimism was short-lived, however, as Iranian state media reported Wednesday that Tehran had closed the strait again in response to the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the report “false.”
There have been conflicting signals about whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire since it was announced. Israel says it was not, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate negotiations, said the opposite.
Trump told “PBS News Hour” in a phone interview that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire, referring to Wednesday’s attack as a “separate skirmish.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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