Death toll from recent Israeli airstrike on Beirut suburb rises to 31

The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb has risen to 31, including seven women and three children, Lebanon's health minister said on Saturday.

Firass Abiad told reporters 68 people were also wounded of whom 15 remain in hospital, adding that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise.

The rare strike the deadliest targeting the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war hit a densely populated southern neighbourhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour as people returned home. Israel said it killed 11 Hezbollah operatives, including Ibrahim Akil who was in charge of the group's elite Radwan Force. The militant group members were in a meeting in the basement of the building that was destroyed.

Hezbollah announced overnight Friday that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on the location of these deaths.

Lebanese troops cordoned off the area preventing people from .