Israeli strikes hit central Beirut, kill four

Two Israeli missiles struck central Beirut, killing at least four people and injuring 18 others, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Smoke was seen rising from the location of the strike in the Zuqaq al-Blat area, a short distance from the central Beirut district where the Lebanese government is headquartered.

The strike was also near the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia building.

It was the second consecutive day Israel hit a target within the capital as it pressed its campaign against Hezbollah.

Israel has intensified its bombardment of targets in and around the Lebanese capital over the last week, an escalation that coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy aimed at reaching a ceasefire.

Israel has dealt big blows to Hezbollah since late September, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes, and sending troops into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into northern Israel, where sirens sounded again.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's attack on Iran last month degraded its defense and missile production capabilities, and also hit an element of its nuclear program.

"It's not a secret," Netanyahu said in a speech in parliament. "There is a specific component in their nuclear program that was hit in this attack."

However, Netanyahu added that Iran's path to a nuclear weapon had not been blocked.

Netanyahu's Iran remark was made at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, during a session that was called upon in order to discuss 101 hostages still held by Hamas since it led an attack on Israeli border communities on October 7, 2023.

Opposition lawmakers shouted and some were asked to leave the plenum, while hostages' families who were watching the discussion from the gallery were asked to clear it.