Death toll from Israeli strike on Beirut nears 40 including 3 children

The death toll from an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb has risen to 37, including seven women and three children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire.

Earlier, Lebanon’s Public Health Minister Firas Abiad told reporters on Saturday that 68 people were also wounded, of whom 15 remained in hospital.

Abiad said that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise.

The rare strike hit an apartment block in a densely populated southern Beirut neighbourhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour as people returned home.

It was the deadliest strike targeting the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel war in Lebanon.

On Saturday, the Israeli military announced that it was carrying out new strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, without offering details.

“The IDF (military) is currently striking targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in Lebanon,” the military said, adding that at least 16 Hezbollah militants had been killed in Friday’s strike in Beirut.

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