Israel Strikes Building in Central Beirut

An Israeli airstrike on Sunday hit central Beirut, the Lebanese capital, for the first time in weeks, killing at least one person, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The attack came as Israel’s military has been pounding an area just outside the city with some of the heaviest waves of bombardment in months.

Israel’s intensified push on the battlefield appears aimed at pressuring the Lebanese government and Hezbollah to accede to terms for a cease-fire for Lebanon worked out between Israeli and American officials, in what Israeli analysts describe as a strategy of “negotiations under fire.”

The strike in Beirut on Sunday destroyed a seven-story building in the neighborhood of Ras al-Naba, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported. It said that search teams were working to rescue a number of people trapped under the rubble.

The explosion set off panic and confusion in the city. People rushed out into the street, some screaming, others trying to reach people by phone. Smoke and dust filled the air and gunfire rang out as multiple ambulances rushed to the scene, where a crowd had gathered.

Um Ahmad, who gave only her first name, stood across from the building, her three young daughters huddled behind her. She said that she, her husband and their six children were staying in a nearby apartment along with dozens of others displaced by the war. The moment they heard the blast, they rushed out of their building in fear.

“We heard a loud boom and left immediately,” she said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military about the strike in Beirut. Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military said it had conducted “intelligence-based strikes” against Hezbollah on the Dahiya, an area just south of Beirut where the militant group holds sway. The Dahiya has come under bombardment in recent days. A spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said on Sunday that Israel had struck 50 targets in the area over the past week.

Abu Hussein had fled the Dahiya and taken a job as a security guard at a building in Beirut a few weeks ago. The building where he works was the one that was hit on Sunday.

After the strike, Mr. Hussein stood nearby in a daze. His head bandaged, and streaks of blood ran down his neck.

“The building was nearly empty” when the strike hit, Mr. Hussein said, as medics tended to his wounds.

About 20 rockets were fired into Israel on Sunday, setting off alert sirens in the area around Haifa, Israel’s main northern port city, and other places, the Israeli military said. Some of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s air defenses, and others fell in open areas. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Hwaida Saad and Christina Goldbaum contributed reporting.