At least 182 killed as Israel strikes central Beirut after saying Iran
truce doesn't apply there
[April 09, 2026]
By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and ABBY SEWELL
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli strikes hit busy commercial and residential areas
in central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire
was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Lebanon said at least
182 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, making it the
deadliest day in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
U.S. President Donald Trump told PBS News Hour that Lebanon was not
included in the deal because of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.
When asked about Israel’s latest strikes, he said, “That’s a separate
skirmish.” Israel had said the agreement does not extend to its war with
the Iran-backed Hezbollah, although Iran and mediator Pakistan said it
does.
The fleeting sense of relief among Lebanese after the ceasefire
announcement turned into panic with what Israel’s military called its
largest coordinated strike in the current war, saying it had hit more
than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon
and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital, where a
huge number of people displaced by war have taken shelter. Explosions
interrupted the honking of traffic on what had been a bustling, blue-sky
afternoon. Ambulances raced toward open flames. Apartment buildings were
struck.
Associated Press journalists saw charred bodies in vehicles and on the
ground at one of Beirut’s busiest intersections in the central Corniche
al Mazraa neighborhood, a mixed commercial and residential area. Using
forklifts, rescue workers removed smoldering debris and sifted through
ruins for survivors.
There was no sign of Hezbollah launching strikes against Israel in the
first couple of hours after the attacks.
In response to the attacks on Lebanon, Iran later Wednesday said it was
again halting the movement of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the
country's state-run media reported.
A deadly midday barrage
Central Beirut has been targeted before, but not by so many strikes at
once and in the middle of the day. Israel had rarely struck central
Beirut since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on March 2
but has regularly struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s
southern suburbs.
Lebanon's Minister of Social Affairs, Haneen Sayed, in an interview with
The Associated Press condemned Israel’s wide range of strikes, calling
it 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,” she said,
adding that she had just driven by areas hit.
She said Lebanon's government is ready to enter into negotiations with
Israel for an end to hostilities, an offer that the Lebanese president
previously made. Israel has not responded. “There are calls and efforts
being made as we speak," Sayed said.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement accused Israel of escalating
at a moment when Lebanese officials were seeking to negotiate a
solution, and of hitting civilian areas in “utter disregard for the
principles of international law and international humanitarian law —
principles it has, in any case, never respected.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the Israeli attacks “barbaric.”
Lebanon's health ministry said that along with the 182 killed, at least
890 people were wounded in the strikes. Altogether, 1,739 people have
been killed and 5,873 wounded in Lebanon in just over five weeks since
the outbreak of the war.
Israel's military said it had targeted missile launchers, command
centers and intelligence infrastructure. It accused Hezbollah fighters
of trying to “blend into” non-Shiite Muslim areas beyond their
traditional strongholds.
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Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut,
Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Residents and local officials denied that the buildings hit were
military sites.
“Look at these crimes,” said Mohammed Balouza, a member of Beirut’s
municipal council, at the scene of a strike in Corniche al Mazraa.
An apartment building behind a popular shop selling nuts and dried
fruit had been hit. “This is a residential area. There is nothing
(military) here.”
An Israeli warning and a defiant Hezbollah
As the smoke rose Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz
warned Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem that “his turn will come.” In
2024, Israel killed Hezbollah's previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah,
with an airstrike.
Katz called Wednesday's strikes the largest blow against Hezbollah
since the attack that caused pagers used by hundreds of its members
to explode almost simultaneously in September 2024.
Before the new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the AP that the
group was giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in
Lebanon, but “we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire
since the Israelis are not adhering to it.” He spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The Hezbollah official said the group will not accept a return to
the pre-March 2 status quo, when Israel carried out near-daily
strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire being nominally in place
since the last full-blown Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November
2024.
“We will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they
did before this war with regards to attacks,” he said.
Hezbollah had fired missiles across the border days after the United
States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking a regional war.
Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground
invasion.
The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the
attacks are to protect Israel’s northern residents, who have come
under heavy fire.
The Israeli military has said it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah
fighters. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
Early Wednesday, after the Iran ceasefire was announced and before
Israel struck, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the
streets of Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon had begun packing
their belongings in preparation to return home.
Families at a sprawling displacement camp on Beirut’s waterfront
later expressed confusion and despair.
“We can’t take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the
uncertainty,” said Fadi Zaydan, 35. He and his parents had prepared
to head back to the southern city of Nabatieh. Instead, they decided
to wait things out in Sidon, a bit closer to home.
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre and AP journalists Hussein
Mallah and Fadi Tawil in Beirut, Michelle Price in Washington and
Melanie Lidman in Eilat, Israel, contributed to this report.
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