UPDATE, 4/8/2026, 1 p.m.: Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, casting doubt over whether an to end more than a month of war will hold. Read the full story here.
BEIRUT (AP) 鈥� Israeli strikes hit busy without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the . 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 told PBS News Hour that was not included in the deal because of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. When asked about Israel鈥檚 latest strikes, he said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a separate skirmish.鈥� 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鈥檚 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 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 southern suburbs.
Lebanon’s Minister of Social Affairs, Haneen Sayed, in an interview with The Associated Press condemned Israel鈥檚 wide range of strikes, calling it a 鈥渧ery dangerous turning point.鈥�
鈥淭hese hits are now at the heart of Beirut 鈥� Half of the sheltered (internally displaced people) are in Beirut in this area,鈥� 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. 鈥淭here 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 鈥渦tter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law 鈥� principles it has, in any case, never respected.鈥�
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the Israeli attacks 鈥渂arbaric.鈥� 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 鈥渂lend into鈥� non-Shiite Muslim areas beyond their traditional strongholds.
Residents and local officials denied that the buildings hit were military sites.
鈥淟ook at these crimes,鈥� said Mohammed Balouza, a member of Beirut鈥檚 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. 鈥淭his is a residential area. There is nothing (military) here.鈥�
An Israeli warning and a defiant Hezbollah
As the smoke rose Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem that 鈥渉is turn will come.鈥� In 2024, , 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 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 鈥渨e have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it.鈥� 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.
鈥淲e will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they did before this war with regards to attacks,鈥� 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 .
The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the attacks are to protect Israel鈥檚 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鈥檚 waterfront later expressed confusion and despair.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the uncertainty,鈥� 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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This story corrects the first name of the social affairs minister to Haneen Sayed, not Haneed Sayed.
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