Lebanon: Central Beirut targeted by Israeli strikes, 22 killed, 117 injured in residential apartment attacks

At least 22 people have been killed and 117 people are confirmed to be severely injured after Israel launched unannounced attacks on two densely populated residential apartment buildings in central Beirut.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) strikes come after 27 people were killed late on Thursday when strikes hit a school that was sheltering displaced locals.

Two large strikes in Beirut have already killed 22 people and injured 117, Lebanese health officials say, with the death toll expected to rise.

The first major strike occurred in Bachoura, central Beirut, and was heard around 4am AEDT. Those close to the area heard multiple large explosions and rumblings.

In recent weeks, the IDF has issued immediate evacuation orders for sites it deemed high risk of housing Hezbollah militants or equipment. Strikes usually occur within an hour of warnings being issued.

However, this attack had no warning.

Around an hour after the first blast in Bachoura, rockets were heard sweeping over the city before a second explosion was heard in central Beirut.

The two blasts have reportedly hit densely populated residential buildings.

The Lebanese health authority has already confirmed 18 people have been killed and around 100 have been injured.

Locals have descended on the blast sites in a desperate attempt to rescue the injured.

Large crowds of people are now standing outside the American University Hospital in Beirut where the injured have been taken.

Beirut had experienced two relatively calm days as attacks slowed in recent days.

However this fresh strikes, occurring with no warnings, has brought panic and mayhem to the streets.

Local reporters have observes children and adults screaming in fear, as Israeli targets the terrorist group Hezbollah within the city.

The IDF has since issued an evacuation order for southern Beirut, telling locals to move away from a site near “Hezbollah facilities”.

“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate this building and the buildings adjacent to it immediately and stay away from it for a distance of no less than 500 meters,” the IDF spokesperson said.

The strikes on the two residential apartment buildings came as the Israeli military continued to pound Hezbollah targets across Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said.

The Israeli military said it targeted militants, but people sheltering there said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers.

Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran.

The military launched a large-scale air and ground operation against Hamas in northern Gaza earlier this week.

In a separate development, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers.

The attack drew widespread condemnation and prompted the Italian Defence Ministry to summon Israel’s ambassador in protest.

The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a UN base in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces.”

Over the last 24 hours, Lebanon’s crisis response unit said Israeli shellfire and air strikes killed 28 people and wounded 113, bringing the total to 2,169 killed and 10,212 people wounded in Lebanon since the war erupted last October.

At least four people were killed on Thursday in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese health authorities said.

Hezbollah attacks have killed 28 civilians in northern Israel since the war began, as well as 39 Israeli soldiers, including both in northern Israel since last October and in southern Lebanon since Israel’s invasion.

- With AP