Seven paramedics killed in Israeli strike on central Beirut

Building hit in the heavily populated neighbourhood of Bashura

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At least seven paramedics were killed in an Israeli air strike in the early hours of Thursday on a densely populated neighbourhood of central Beirut, an area close to the Lebanese parliament and the prime minister's office.

The strikes hit the second floor of a building in the neighbourhood of Bashura near downtown Beirut, a district to where many people displaced by Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon and the Beirut suburb of Dahieh have fled. The attacks shook buildings, with nearby residents reporting that they heard the missile crossing over their homes.

The assault came after Israeli forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year, when eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah after invading southern Lebanon. Israeli army spokesman Lt Col Avichai Adraee had overnight announced the army’s intention to bomb three neighbourhoods in Dahieh – Haret Hreik, Burj Al Barajneh and Hadath – and warned residents to flee “immediately”. The military said regular infantry and armoured units joined the ground raids.

Three missiles struck Dahieh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said. On Wednesday, the southern suburbs of Beirut were hit with more than a dozen Israeli strikes, and the assault continued overnight with 17 other attacks, Lebanon’s state news agency said.

"We are at the height of a difficult war against Iran's axis of evil, which wants to destroy us," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a condolence video. "This will not happen because we will stand together and with God's help, we will win together.”

The clash came a day after Iran fired about 200 missiles into Israel, its second missile attack on the country in six months, increasing world oil prices and raising concern that the Middle East could become embroiled in a wider conflict.

The military has said its ground incursion was largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and said there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in the south.

Hezbollah said its fighters engaged the Israeli forces inside Lebanon. It was the first report by the militant group of ground clashes since Israeli forces pushed over the border on Monday. It said it had destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of Maroun El Ras and repelled Israeli forces near several border towns while firing rockets at military posts inside Israel.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said early on Thursday that 46 people had been killed and 85 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours.

More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.

Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops in October last year in support of Hamas after the Gaza-based militant group staged its cross-border attack on Israel.

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said about 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks on his country in the past two weeks.