The strike appeared to have damaged the upper three floors of a building in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Reuters reporter at the scene said, with the balconies of the floors blown out. The glass on the floors below was intact, indicating a targeted strike. Ambulances were at the scene to recover casualties.
There was no evacuation warning issued for the area ahead of the strike, and families fled in the aftermath to other parts of Beirut, according to witnesses.
Last November's ceasefire agreement halted the year-long conflict and mandated that southern Lebanon be free of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, that Lebanese troops deploy to the area and that Israeli ground troops withdraw from the zone. However, each side accuses the other of not entirely living up to the terms.
The US-brokered truce has looked increasingly flimsy lately. Israel delayed a promised troop withdrawal in January and said it had intercepted rockets fired from Lebanon in March, which led it to bombard targets in Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon.
Iran-aligned Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the rocket firings.
The US state department said on Tuesday Israel was defending itself from rocket attacks that came from Lebanon and Washington blamed "terrorists" for the resumption of hostilities.
"Hostilities have resumed because terrorists launched rockets into Israel from Lebanon," a state department spokesperson said in an e-mail, adding Washington supported Israel's response.
The Israeli-Lebanese conflict, in which thousands of people have been killed, was ignited by the Gaza war in 2023 when Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israeli military positions in support of its ally Hamas.
The Gaza war, in which Palestinian health authorities say more than 50,000 people have been killed, was triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
**Reuters**