LEBANESE authorities said that at least 20 people were killed and 14 wounded by a late night Israeli strike on an apartment building in the town of Barja.

Lebanon’s Civil Defence service said that the death toll could still rise as many are reported to still be missing.

Many are thought to still be trapped under the rubble following the Tuesday night air strike, which came without warning. 

There was no statement from the Israeli military and the strike’s intended target was also unknown.

Barja, a town just north of the port city of Sidon in central Lebanon, has not been regularly targeted so far in the conflict.

“Something pulled me hard, and then the explosion happened,” said Moussa Zahran, who was at home with his wife and son when the building was hit. 

He said that he found his wife and son alive in the rubble and pulled them out. 

Another building resident, Muhyiddin Al- Qalaaji, said that he was at work when the strike happened and heard the news from his wife who called him frantically.

“There are many dead and injured,” he said.

Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group have been clashing for more than a year, since Hezbollah started firing rockets across the border soon after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack from Gaza into southern Israel sparked the ongoing war there.

The war on the Lebanese front has substantially escalated since mid-September, with Israel launching a massive aerial bombardment and ground invasion — although they are being repelled by stiff resistance from Hezbollah and have made no advances.

On Wednesday, sirens blared across northern and central Israel, including in the populous metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, as Hezbollah launched 10 rockets. There were no reports of injuries.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in a surprise announcement that sparked protests across the country. 

Mr Gallant’s replacement is the far-right Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a long time Mr Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister.

Israeli police said they arrested 40 people during protests on Tuesday night when the demonstrators blocked Israel’s main highway in Tel Aviv. 

Another night of protests over Mr Gallant’s firing was planned across Israel this evening.

Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. 

Mr Gallant was reportedly more open than the prime minister and his coalition allies to reaching at least a temporary truce in the fighting to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 last year.