Israel presses strikes as Lebanon says 26 paramedics killed since war began

Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon on Saturday as Beirut said 26 paramedics had been killed since the latest war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and offered to host negotiations in Paris, warning that "everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos."

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war last week when militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem said Friday that his group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel.

Israel's military said it had struck "approximately 110 Hezbollah command centres" since the regional conflict broke out.

Lebanese health authorities said an overnight Israeli strike killed 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses working at a healthcare centre in the southern town of Burj Qalawiya.

The Israeli army said Saturday that a day earlier it struck Hezbollah operatives "who were bringing rockets into a weapons depot" in Majedel, around seven kilometres (four miles) from Burj Qalawiya.

Lebanon's health ministry accused Israel of repeatedly "targeting ambulance crews while they were performing rescue duties", while the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of using ambulances militarily.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that Israel would act "in accordance with international law against any military activity" by any Hezbollah use of medical facilities or ambulances.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the Burj Qalawiya strike hit an Islamic Health Committee facility, but a statement from the Hezbollah-affiliated organisation did not identify the site as theirs.

- 'No safety' -

On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit an apartment building in a northern Beirut suburb that had been targeted a day earlier, with state media also reporting strikes in the country's south.

An AFP correspondent in the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area saw rescue workers at the scene and damage including a hole in a building, outside Hezbollah's strongholds in the capital's southern suburbs.

The health ministry said the strike killed one person and wounded four others.

The same building had been struck on Friday without causing casualties.

Burj Hammoud is a densely populated, mixed area known for its large Armenian-Lebanese community.

Levon Ghazalian, 42, who lives in the building next door, said "it's the first time this happens" in the area, which was spared in the previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024.

"All the neighbours are afraid," he told AFP, staring at the scene with his daughter.

Hanadi Hachem, 50, who was in her pyjamas, said "there's no safety anymore... you never know where a strike will come from".

She said she and some family members were sleeping in their car out of fear.

In the suburbs of the southern coastal city of Sidon, state media reported a strike targeted an apartment in the Haret Saida area.

An AFP correspondent there said the strike hit a residential building in the densely populated area, causing a fire.

- UN peacekeepers -

On a visit to Lebanon that began on Friday, UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hezbollah to "stop the war" and launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

Guterres met army chief Rodolphe Haykal on Saturday, Lebanon's military said, discussing the need to adhere to a 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, and for the army to implement its plan to disarm the militant group.

On Friday, the NNA said Israeli fire hit a UN base hosting Nepali peacekeepers in the southern border town of Mais al-Jabal.

Kandice Ardiel, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, told AFP Saturday that one of the peacekeepers' positions near Mais al-Jabal was hit, "likely by heavy machine gun fire", sparking a fire, with one peacekeeper lightly wounded.

"We have launched an investigation. We remind all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers at all times," she said, without identifying the source of the gunfire.