Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrike levels apartment building in central Beirut

An apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut has leveled an apartment building. It came after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people, as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The early Monday airstrike — the first to hit central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict — hit a multistory residential building, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops.

Separately, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed a family of four in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence — including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah — but had not hit locations near the city center.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes on Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.

Here is the latest:

BEIRUT — Lebanese officials have asked people who lost relatives in recent Israeli airstrikes to provide DNA samples to match with unidentified remains.

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces on Monday called on residents across the country to visit police stations with an identity card to give their samples. It said more than one person from each family should provide a sample, if possible.

A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show the site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The images, taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC, show the site just some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) northeast of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.

The images show multi-story buildings at the site now cratered in the densely populated predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh.

Israel said the Friday night strike targeted a meeting at an underground Hezbollah compound located beneath the towers and at least one empty lot at the site.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed a family of four in central Gaza.

The strike hit a house in the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

The dead included two children and their parents, according to hospital records. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the hospital morgue.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, putting them in danger. It rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 41,595 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. It does not distinguish between militants and civilians but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.

The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

BEIRUT — The Palestinian militant group Hamas says one of its commanders has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

Fatah Sharif was killed early Monday in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre, the group said in a statement. His wife, son and daughter were also killed in the strike, it said.

Sharif was a commander in Lebanon and a member of Hamas’ command outside the Palestinian territories, Hamas said.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Israeli airstrikes have killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

A man passes by a damaged car where an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby building in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Yemenis stand in front of a portrait of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. (AP Photo)

A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People look up at a damaged building that was hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People walk past damaged cars near a building hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Women pass the damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A damaged apartment is seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damages are seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Lebanese soldier passes next to damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

HONG KONG (AP) — Global markets had a wild start to the week, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index tumbling nearly 5% while Chinese markets soared on news of fresh stimulus for the faltering economy, with Shanghai up more than 8%.

In early European trading, France’s CAC 40 slipped 1.0% to 7,711.66, and Germany’s DAX lost 0.4% to 19,399.02. In London, the FTSE 100 declined 0.3% to 8,294.70. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower.

Japanese shares sank after the ruling Liberal Democrats chose former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba late Friday to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is due to step down on Tuesday.

Ishiba has expressed support for the Bank of Japan's moves to raise interest rates from their near-zero level. He also backs other policies, such as possibly raising corporate taxes, that are seen as less market friendly than his chief rival for the top job, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, who he beat in a run-off vote.

The Nikkei closed 4.8% lower at 37,919.55 on Monday.

The dollar fell from over 146 Japanese yen to under 143 yen after the ruling party’s vote. By Monday, it was trading at 142.38 yen, up from 142.29.

Exporters’ shares plunged, since a stronger yen is a disadvantage for Japanese companies that make a large share of their sales and profits overseas.

Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 7.6%. Honda Motor Co.'s shares fell 7.0% and Nissan Motor Co.'s declined 6.0%.

Ishiba has said he backs Kishida's “new capitalism” policies, which ostensibly would foster more equal distribution of national wealth. But sharply rising prices have undermined progress toward encouraging consumers to spend more.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 2.4% to 21,133.68, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index up 6.4%. The Shanghai Composite index surged 8.1% to 3,336.50. An index in the smaller market in Shenzhen jumped almost 11%.

The rallies were auspiciously timed, coming on the eve of a week-long national holiday marking 75 years of communist rule in China. Markets in mainland China will be closed Tuesday through Oct. 7.

China is moving forward with measures announced last week to support the property industry and revive languishing financial markets. The central bank announced on Sunday that it would direct banks to cut mortgage rates for existing home loans by Oct. 31. Meanwhile, the major southern city of Guangzhou lifted all home purchase restrictions over the weekend, while both Shanghai and Shenzhen revealed plans to ease key buying curbs.

The effort to wrest the housing market out of a prolonged downturn comes as the economy shows signs of slowing further. China’s manufacturing activity in September contracted for a fifth consecutive month, as the official purchasing managers’ index came in at 49.8, remaining below the 50 line that separates expansion from contraction, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 8,269.80. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.1% to 2,593.27.

On Friday, the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high to 5,738.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 42,313.00, setting its own record, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4% to 18,119.59.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market after a report showed inflation slowed in August by a bit more than economists expected. It echoed similar numbers from earlier in the month about inflation, but Friday’s report has resonance because it’s the measure that officials at the Federal Reserve prefer to use.

In other dealings, oil prices rose as tensions in the Middle East escalated. On early Monday, Israel launched the first apparent airstrike in nearly a year of conflict on the center of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. This came after Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an air attack on Saturday. Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 49 cents to $68.67 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 61 cents at $72.15 per barrel.

The euro was trading at $1.1193, up from $1.1163.

The New York Stock Exchange, center, is shown on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People walk by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man walks by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A woman looks at monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as she waits at an traffic intersection in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man stands by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as he waits at a traffic intersection in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man who called himself a trader takes a picture of monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man looks at monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)