After conducting its largest air raid since the war against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began on March 2, the Israeli army said it had targeted "approximately 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites".

But the majority of people killed were civilians, a Lebanese military source told AFP.

- The radio host -

Longtime radio host Ghada Dayekh, 60, died when an Israeli airstrike flattened her home in the southern coastal city of Tyre.

"I've known Ghada for 37 years, and I always used to say she was our mentor at the station," said Alwan Charafeddine, who owns the radio station Sawt Al-Farah, Arabic for "Voice of Joy".

"She trained generations of journalists and generations grew up with her voice," said Charafeddine, who is also Tyre's deputy mayor.

After Israel bombed Sawt Al-Farah's office at the beginning of the war, Dayekh continued working from home.

"She refused to leave, thinking she was safe and that there were no partisan facilities near it," never expecting that "the treacherous aggression would target the building without prior warning", Charafeddine said.

Charafeddine recalled "her endearing personality, her cheerful spirit, the smile that never left her face and her love of joy and life".

"She used to introduce herself as Ghada 'The Voice of Joy' instead of her surname."

- The gentle poet -

In the Tallet al-Khayyat neighbourhood of Beirut, poet Khatoun Salma died at home alongside her husband on Wednesday evening.

Writer and publisher Rasha Al-Amir mourned Khatoun in a social media post as "the gentle poet, the doting mother, the proud grandmother and the friend who died yesterday with her husband Mohammad under the rubble".

Theatre director and playwright Yehya Jaber recalled evenings spent with the couple on their balcony.

"We used to stitch memories together, recite poetry, remember our city of Tyre and love the capital, Beirut."

He mourned her saying, "with its sharp scissors, the warplane cut down a poet of delicate Arabic".

- The master roaster -

Nader Khalil began working at nut roastery Rifai 35 years ago.

He went to work for the last time on Wednesday, at the Rifai in Beirut's Corniche Al-Mazraa area. An Israeli strike turned the rush hour neighbourhood into a scene of ruin and devastation.

Rifai mourned Khalil, who was "known for his dedication, exceptional service and passion for his work", saying in a social media post that "he will be profoundly missed, but his legacy will endlessly stay in our hearts".

The sentiment was echoed by dozens of comments praising the man with the "kind heart" and "cheerful face".

- The widow demanding justice -

Almost six years ago, the Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020 turned the life of Ola Al-Attar, 32, and her two daughters upside down when her husband, who worked at the port, was killed along with more than 220 others.

The girls, now aged eight and 11, are again mourning a loss as their mother was killed when an Israeli strike slammed into a building where she worked as a secretary in a medical clinic in the working-class Ouzai neighbourhood south of Beirut.

Ibrahim Hoteit, an activist representing families of Beirut port blast victims, told AFP the girls "are now without a mother or a father, after both were killed in similarly horrific massacres".

"Her dream was for us to reach the truth and achieve justice" in the port investigation, Hoteit said after attending her funeral.

"We pledge to her today to fulfil her dream".

- The volunteer -

In the Aley area southeast of Beirut, Rana Shaya went to a pharmacy run by a local NGO to collect medicine for distribution to people displaced by the war.

As she entered the pharmacy, an Israeli airstrike killed everyone inside.

In her hometown of Baysur, her family received condolences on Thursday and her brother-in-law Sami told AFP: "Since the beginning of the war, she had volunteered to help the displaced."

Shaya leaves behind a husband and two sons.

The family will always remember "Rana, driven and full of life", Sami said.