Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip Oct 20, 2024. BEIRUT: Hundreds of Beirut residents fled their homes late on Sunday after Israel said it was preparing attacks on sites linked to the financial operations of Lebanon's Hezbollah group and told people to leave those areas immediately.
Al-Qard al-Hassan - which the US has said is used by Iran-backed Hezbollah to manage its finances - has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs.Asked by journalists whether the branches could be considered military targets, a senior Israeli intelligence official said:"The purpose of this strike is to target the ability of Hezbollah economic function both during the war but also afterwards to rebuild and to rearm ...
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Sunday that the military was stepping up its strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon and"destroying them in places that Hezbollah planned to use as launchpads for attacks against Israel". The Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation"condemned the strike in the strongest terms" and called Israel's actions in Gaza a"stain on the conscience of humanity".In southern Lebanon, NNA later said Israeli strikes had targeted dozens of locations, including the city of Nabatiyeh for the third time this week.