Rescuers pull 30 bodies from building in Lebanon hit by Israeli strike

RESCUERS HAVE PULLED 30 bodies out of the rubble today after a late-night Israeli strike on an apartment building in the town of Barja, Lebanon’s civil defence service said, as the Middle East wars press on with no signs of abating.

It is unclear if there are any survivors or bodies still trapped under the rubble after last night’s air strike, which came without warning.

There was no statement from the Israeli military and the strike’s intended target also was unknown.

Barja, a town just north of the port city of Sidon, has not been regularly targeted so far in the conflict.

“Something pulled me hard, and then the explosion happened,” said Moussa Zahran, who was at home with his wife and son when the building was hit.

He said he could not see but started digging through the rubble until he found his wife and son, alive but injured, and pulled them out. Both are in hospital, he said.

Another resident, Muhyiddin Al- Qalaaji, said he was at work when the strike happened and heard the news from his wife who called him frantically.

“There are many dead and injured,” he said as he carried out what he could salvage of the family’s belongings today.

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Civil defence official Mostafa Danaj said some of the neighbours have reported there are still people missing.

The war on the Lebanese front has substantially escalated since mid-September, with Israel launching a massive aerial bombardment and ground invasion.

A rocket attack killed a foreign worker near the northern Israeli city of Acre today, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service. The worker’s nationality was not immediately known.

Today, sirens blared across northern and central Israel, including in the populous metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, as Hezbollah launched 10 rockets towards Israel.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said there were no reports of injuries.

A large portion of a rocket slammed into a parked car in the central Israeli city of Raanana. Rockets also hit an open area near Israel’s main airport, Israeli media reported, though the airport said flights were operating as normally.

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed defence minister Yoav Gallant in a surprise announcement that sparked protests across the country.

His replacement is foreign minister Israel Katz, a long-time Netanyahu loyalist and veteran cabinet minister.

Israeli police said they arrested 40 people during protests on last night when the demonstrators blocked Israel’s main highway in Tel Aviv. Thousands of people gathered outside Israel’s parliament on Wednesday night to protest against Gallant’s firing.

For Netanyahu, Donald Trump’s victory in the US president election will be seen as welcome.