Toll rises to 22 in Israeli strikes in central Beirut, 27 in Gaza school

Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut on Thursday evening, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens, Lebanon's health ministry said, leaving two neighbourhoods smoldering and further escalating Israel's bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The strikes apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighbourhoods of western Beirut, according to an AP photographer at the scene, bringing down one multi-story building and wiping out the lower floors of another.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes on the Lebanese capital. Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut's tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations.

Thursday's strikes followed a year of tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel that boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its