Lebanon says Israeli strike on central Beirut kills at least five

Lebanon's health ministry said that an Israeli strike Monday -- the third in two days in central Beirut -- killed at least five people in a densely packed neighbourhood.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Zuqaq al-Blat in Beirut... killed five people" and injured 31 others, a ministry statement said, giving an updated toll.

The death toll is likely to rise because two people were missing and some remains recovered from the site were "being verified", the statement said.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment near a Shiite Muslim place of worship had been targeted.

"A hostile drone targeted a residential apartment behind the Husseiniya of Zuqaq al-Blat in the capital Beirut, causing great damage," NNA said.

The strike was not preceded by a warning from the Israeli military to evacuate.

An AFP correspondent in the area heard two blasts, and said the raid badly damaged the ground floor of a building.

Reporters elsewhere in the city heard ambulance sirens.

The working class district of Zuqaq al-Blat has welcomed many displaced people who fled Israeli strikes on south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut -- areas where the Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway.

The strike hit near a building housing many displaced Lebanese, the AFP correspondent said.

It was cordoned off by security forces as residents rushed to help rescuers, he added.

In the nearby Mar Elias neighbourhood, three people, including one woman, were killed in a similar strike Sunday, the health ministry said.

Israel has not commented on the central Beirut strikes, but has said that one air raid in the area on Sunday killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

That strike hit the Lebanese office of the Syrian Baath party, killing Afif and four members of his media team, Hezbollah said. The health ministry said seven people were killed in the attack.

Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its air campaign in Lebanon and sent in ground troops after almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah over the Gaza war.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,510 people have been killed since Hezbollah-Israel clashes began in October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.