Israel continued military strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday but held back from bombing Beirut under the terms of a partial ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump late Monday, according to BBC News.
Lebanon said the agreement calls for Israeli forces not to strike the capital in exchange for Hezbollah not attacking Israel. Despite the partial truce, fighting continued elsewhere. The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles fired into northern Israel, and Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli forces in the south.
The Lebanese health ministry said four people were killed and 127 injured when Israeli air strikes hit buildings next to Jabal Amel hospital in the city of Tyre on Monday afternoon. Thirty-nine hospital staff were among the injured, with four in critical condition.
The scene outside the hospital Tuesday was described as utter devastation. Chunks of concrete and twisted metal were scattered across the area. The beeping of damaged cars and the crackle of downed electrical wires echoed through streets that were otherwise quiet. A woman stood in tears staring at an apartment building that was half gone. "I live there," she said, pointing at the wreckage, before adding: "Used to."
Dr. Wael Mroueh, the hospital's director, described the moment of the strike. "We were working with patients and displaced people. Business was as usual, and suddenly, 'boom'," he said. "It happened without any prior warning. Pictures speak volumes." He also denied there was any military target in the vicinity. "The Israeli enemy targets journalists, ambulance workers, medical staff. It makes no difference, and all it wants is to kick us out of our country," he said.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area. It acknowledged the attack caused damage to the hospital but said the hospital was not targeted, and accused Hezbollah of embedding itself within civilian infrastructure and population centers without providing evidence.
Inside the hospital, corridors were littered with broken glass and ceiling panels had collapsed onto floors. A row of incubators stood cracked and damaged by the force of the blast. Just four hours before the strike, a baby named Fares had been born in the maternity ward. His grandmother, Amal, held him while he lay asleep in a blue furry blanket. "It's true life is very hard, but we need to bear it," she said. "This is his country and land, and he [Fares] needs to defend it. This is a responsibility."
The partial ceasefire came after Iran said Israeli action in Lebanon was jeopardizing talks on a deal to end the U.S.-Iran war. That conflict, which began February 28, has included Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and has sent gasoline prices rising in the United States.
Al Jazeera reported that analysts are skeptical about leaked reports of tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Isabelle Hayslip, an advocacy manager at the rights group DAWN, said that despite reports of Trump confronting Netanyahu by phone, actual policy outcomes tell a different story. "Single-source reporting of Trump as a strongman who picks up the phone and yells at Netanyahu for undermining US policy is contradicted by the actual policy outcomes where Netanyahu gets exactly what he wants," Hayslip told Al Jazeera.
Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action, said political observers have grown to mock such reports. "What's really important is what actually happens in practice," Costello told Al Jazeera.
