Israeli missiles strike residential building in central Beirut 

Five Israeli missiles have flattened a residential building in a densely populated area in the heart of Beirut, state media reported, as Israel presses on with its offensive against Hezbollah that has killed thousands of civilians.

At least 15 people were killed and 63 others wounded, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said on Saturday.

Volunteers and rescue crew were looking for survivors as bulldozers and heavy equipment dug through the debris.

The grim task of identifying body parts from the attack in the neighbourhood of Basta was ongoing, the ministry said in a statement on social media platform X, adding that it could only determine the total number of deaths after DNA tests were carried out.

“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-storey residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in the Basta area,” the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the powerful series of strikes caused extensive damage to blocks of flats surrounding the destroyed building.

“It marks at least the fourth Israeli strike this week carried out in central Beirut,” he said, adding that it fits a pattern of “multiple strikes, no warning, on an area that is densely populated with missiles meant to penetrate deeply”.

The blasts shook Beirut at about 4am (02:00 GMT), with security sources saying at least four bombs were dropped in the attack.

Rescue crews and paramedics were still at the site of the attack.

Most of the Israeli military’s attacks on Beirut have targeted the southern suburbs, which are known as a stronghold of support for Hezbollah.

On Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed Hezbollah’s spokesman Mohammad Afif in the Ras al-Nabaa district of central Beirut, while attacks last Friday in southern Beirut demolished an 11-storey building.

The Israeli military on Saturday issued new forced displacement orders for residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut in Al-Hadath, Choueifat, and el-Aamroussieh.

“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the [Israeli military] will operate in the near future,” Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic language spokesman, posted on social media platform X.

Israel does not always issue warnings before it carries out attacks – in both Lebanon and Gaza – but often does mere minutes before a strike. Many of these orders have come in the middle of the night when residents are sleeping, or the instructions have been misleading.

On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health said Israeli attacks in the south of the country killed five healthcare workers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said 226 health workers and patients have been killed in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire in October last year.

At least 3,645 people have been killed and 15,355 wounded in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the war on Gaza began.