Beirut, Lebanon Israel has launched an attack on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for the first time since a fragile ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from the area that Israel's military had warned it would strike.

The strike came after Israel's army urgently warned people to evacuate parts of a Beirut suburb, vowing to retaliate against strikes which it said were launched from Lebanon into northern Israel. Israel's defense minister said Friday that if there was no peace in Israel's northern communities there would be no peace in Beirut either.

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike in Beirut had targeted a Hezbollah drone storage facility in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, which Israel has long described as a key Hezbollah stronghold. Israel accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields and the IDF noted its advanced warning for people to leave the area on Friday.

Hezbollah denied firing the rockets at northern Israel, and accused Israel of seeking a pretext to continue attacking Lebanon.

Lebanon's government ordered all schools and universities in Beirut's southern suburb of Hadath to close for the day. Residents were seen fleeing the area in cars and on foot ahead of the strike.

It was the first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold on Nov. 27, 2024, between Israel and Hezbollah, a U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist organization that has long been powerful political force in Lebanon, although Israel has struck targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after its ally Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, which ignited the war in Gaza. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group's senior leaders. The fighting killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis who live in communities near the country's shared border.

Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under the ceasefire deal. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18, but Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon across from communities in northern Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Last week, Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon killed six people.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said the exchange of fire was deeply concerning. "This is a critical period for Lebanon and the wider region," she said Friday.

The Israeli strikes on Beirut came as Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun made his first visit to Paris as his country's leader. He met Friday with President Emmanuel Macron who, following their meeting, called the Israeli strike "unacceptable" and a "violation of the ceasefire" that he argued would "play into the hands of Hezbollah."

Aoun called the Friday strike a continuation "of Israel's violations" of the November ceasefire agreement, which was sponsored by the U.S. and France.

Israel continues bombing Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens

The escalation comes 11 days after Israel abruptly ended its separate ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza , by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of people in the decimated Palestinian territory.

Earlier this month, Israel halted deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million inhabitants.

Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the 59 hostages it still holds in Gaza 24 of whom are still believed to be alive. Israel is demanding that Hamas give up power, disarm and send its leaders out of Gaza into exile.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The war triggered by Hamas' terrorist attack has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to the enclave's Hamas-run Health Ministry. The attack on Israel saw Hamas and its allies kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and take 251 others hostage.

Almost 40 more people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight, Palestinian media outlets said Friday, including 14 who were reportedly killed in a strike that hit a house in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza city. The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that 855 people had been killed since the resumption of Israeli attacks on March 18. The Hamas-run ministry's figures do not differentiate between civilian and combatant casualties.

The World Central Kitchen charity said in a social media post that one of its volunteers in Gaza was killed in an Israeli airstrike Thursday that hit near one of its kitchens during a meal distribution.

"Our hearts are heavy today," the organization, founded by American-Spanish chef Jos Andrs, said in a social media post , adding that six other people were wounded in the same strike. About a year ago, Andrs accused Israeli forces of "targeting us in a deconflicting zone" in Gaza. The charity acknowledged dismissing some staff in Gaza in December after Israeli authorities provided a list of about 60 WCK volunteers whom it alleged were linked to terrorism.

"This should not be taken as a conclusion by WCK that the individuals are affiliated with any terror organization," the Washington D.C-based charity said at the time . "Prior to receiving the results of the COGAT [Israeli government] security check, we had no reason for concern regarding any of these individuals and, because Israel does not share intelligence with aid organizations, we do not know the basis for Israel's decision to flag these individuals. However, we felt this step was necessary to protect our team and operations."

The United Nations' World Food Program also sounded alarm Friday over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza more than two weeks after Israel cut off the flow of most humanitarian aid into the territory, with its director in the region telling the Al Jazeera network that more than 90% of the enclave's population lacked food security.

According to a report by the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel obstructed 82% of aid convoys intended for Gaza between March 18 and March 24), hampering relief efforts.

以色列自11月脆弱停火结束以色列与真主党战争后，首次对黎巴嫩首都贝鲁特发动袭击。路透社驻贝鲁特记者听到一声巨响，并目睹了以色列军队警告将空袭的地区升起烟雾。

在以色列军队紧急警告人们撤离贝鲁特郊区部分地区后，发生了此次空袭。以色列国防部长在周五表示，如果以色列北部的社区没有和平，那么贝鲁特也不会有和平。

以色列国防军表示，在贝鲁特的空袭目标为达伊叶区的一个黎巴嫩真主党无人机储存设施，该地区长期以来被以色列描述为真主党的重要据点。以色列指责真主党使用平民作为人盾，而以色列国防军也提到了周五之前已经向当地居民发出过撤离的预警。

真主党否认向以色列北部发射火箭弹，并指责以色列正在寻找借口继续攻击黎巴嫩。

黎巴嫩政府下令贝鲁特南部哈达特区所有学校和大学当天停课。罢工前，居民们纷纷驾车或步行逃离该地区。

自2024年11月27日以色列与真主党（美国和以色列认定的恐怖组织，在黎巴嫩长期具有强大的政治力量）之间达成停火协议以来，这是对贝鲁特进行的首次打击，尽管自那时以来，以色列几乎每天都会对黎巴嫩南部目标进行打击。

在巴勒斯坦伊斯兰抵抗运动（哈马斯）于2023年10月7日进行前所未有的恐怖袭击后，黎巴嫩真主党于次日开始向以色列发射火箭、无人机和导弹，这场袭击引发了加沙的战争。9月，随着以色列开展多轮空袭并击毙该武装组织大部分高级领导人，以色列与黎巴嫩真主党的冲突全面升级为战争。此次冲突造成黎巴嫩4,000多人死亡，约6万名以色列人被迫流离失所，他们居住在靠近两国共享边界的社区。

根据停火协议，以色列军队本应在1月底之前从所有黎巴嫩领土撤出。然而，截止日期被延长至2月18日，但以色列仍在黎巴嫩的五个地点驻扎，面对以色列北部的社区。与此同时，以色列对黎巴嫩南部和东部的黎巴嫩进行了数十次空袭，称其袭击了真主党，并继续使用无人机进行袭击，导致该武装组织多名成员死亡。

上周，以色列对黎巴嫩多个地点的空袭导致6人死亡。

联合国黎巴嫩问题特别协调员Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert表示，这次交火令人深感担忧。她于周五表示：“目前是黎巴嫩和更广泛地区的一个关键时期。”

在黎巴嫩总统约瑟夫·奥恩（Joseph Aoun）以国家领导人的身份首次访问巴黎之际，以色列对贝鲁特的袭击发生。周五，他与法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙（Emmanuel Macron）会面，会后马克龙将此次以色列的袭击称为“不可接受”并称其“违反了停火协议”，并表示这“将使真主党（Hezbollah）占得上风。”

Aoun将周五的罢工行动称为以色列对11月美国和法国赞助的停火协议的“持续违反”。

随着人道主义危机的加剧，以色列继续对加沙地区进行轰炸。

在以色列突然单方面终止了与哈马斯的停火协议，并对加沙地带的巴勒斯坦领土发动突袭，造成数百人死亡后，局势在11天后升级。

本月早些时候，以色列停止了对加沙地区约200万居民的食物、燃料、药品和人道主义援助的输送。

以色列已誓言将战争升级，直到哈马斯释放仍被关押在加沙的59名人质，其中24人仍被认为活着。以色列要求哈马斯放弃权力、解除武装，并将其领导人驱逐出加沙流亡。

哈马斯表示，它只会释放剩余的俘虏，以换取巴勒斯坦囚犯的获释、长期的停火以及以色列从加沙的撤军。

据加沙地带由哈马斯控制的卫生部称，哈马斯发动的恐怖袭击引发了战争，导致超过5万名巴勒斯坦人死亡，其中许多是妇女和儿童。在针对以色列的袭击中，哈马斯及其盟友杀害了大约1200人，其中大部分是平民，并劫持了另外251人作为人质。

巴勒斯坦媒体周五报道，以色列在加沙地带的空袭中，有近40人被杀，其中包括14人在加沙市al-Zaytoun社区的住宅区遭到空袭而死亡。加沙卫生部周四表示，自3月18日以色列袭击重启以来，已有855人被杀。由哈马斯运营的卫生部数据并未区分平民和战斗人员伤亡情况。

世界中央厨房慈善机构在社交媒体上发布消息称，其加沙的一名志愿者在周四的一次以色列空袭中遇难，该空袭发生在一次分发食物时，其厨房附近。

今天，由美籍西班牙厨师何塞·安德烈斯(Jos�� Andr��s)创立的组织在社交媒体上发布消息称“我们的心情十分沉重”，并补充说，在这次袭击中，还有六人受伤。大约一年前，安德烈斯指责以色列军队在加沙的“冲突脱节区”对我们进行了“打击”。该慈善组织承认，在以色列当局提供了一份关于约60名WCK志愿者名单，并指控他们与恐怖主义有关联后，于12月在加沙解雇了一些工作人员。

位于华盛顿特区的这家慈善机构当时表示：“这不应被视为WCK得出的结论，即这些个人与任何恐怖组织有关联。在收到COGAT（以色列政府）安全检查的结果之前，我们对这些个人没有任何担忧的理由，而且由于以色列不与援助组织分享情报，我们不知道以色列决定标记这些个人的依据。然而，我们认为这一步是保护我们的团队和行动所必需的。”

联合国世界粮食计划署（World Food Program）周五也发出警报，称以色列切断大部分人道主义援助进入加沙地区两周多来，加沙的饥饿危机正在加深。该机构驻该地区负责人向Al Jazeera网络表示，超过90%的加沙人口缺乏食品安全。

根据联合国人道主义事务协调厅的一份报告，以色列在3月18日至3月24日期间阻碍了82%运往加沙的援助车队，阻碍了救援工作的进行。