Lebanon says four killed in Israeli strike on Ramada hotel in central Beirut

AFP , Sunday 8 Mar 2026

At least four people were killed and 10 others wounded early Sunday when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

First aid responders inspect a Ramada hotel room targeted by an Israeli strike, in Beirut’s seaside Rawche area. AFP

The Lebanese health minister said 83 children are among the 394 people killed in Israeli strikes over the past week.

The strike was the first to hit central Beirut since Israel renewed its war on Lebanon last week. In southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency reported that at least 12 people were killed in three separate overnight strikes.

An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw a fourth-floor room with shattered glass and charred walls, while security forces cordoned off the site. Dozens of panicked guests were fleeing the hotel with their luggage.

Two witnesses said they heard a loud bang before ambulances rushed to the scene.

The hotel is in Raouche, a major tourist area that had remained untouched by Israeli strikes during Israel's previous war on Lebanon, which ended with a ceasefire in November 2024.

Rockets

The area along the Mediterranean coast is home to dozens of hotels, now overcrowded with displaced people who fled their homes elsewhere in Lebanon due to Israeli strikes and blanket displacement orders.

This is the second Israeli attack on a hotel in the Beirut area this week.

On Wednesday, an Israeli air strike hit a hotel in the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Hazmieh outside Beirut, near the presidential palace and several government ministries and diplomatic missions.

AFPTV live footage from Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday showed smoke following what appeared to be at least two air strikes several hours apart.

Hezbollah meanwhile claimed rocket attacks early Sunday targeting Israeli forces and a city across the border, "in response to the criminal Israeli aggression that affected dozens of Lebanese cities and towns", according to statements from the group.

Hezbollah also said its fighters were engaged in clashes with Israeli forces near the border town of Aitaroun.

Air raid sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel, with no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.