Beirut

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Four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment block on Monday (Sep 30) as Israel carried out the first such raid on the heart of Lebanon's capital since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last year, the news agency AFP reported citing a Lebanese source.

The source said that Monday's strike, which was a drone attack, targeted an apartment belonging to two members of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya in Kola district. It was the first strike within the city's walls since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year.

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"At least four people were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a flat belonging to Jamaa Islamiya in Beirut's inner city," the source told AFP.

Three members of left-wing militant group killed

Of the four victims killed, three belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a left-wing militant group. In a statement, the PFLP said that its military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and Abdelrahman Abdel-Aal were killed.

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Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport.

The PFLP is one of the militant groups that is fighting against Israel.

Hundreds killed in Lebanon since last week

Iran-aligned Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has engaged in cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year and says it is acting in support of Hamas, who attacked Israel on October 7, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the country's 1975-1990 civil war, AFP reported.

Lebanon's Health Ministry has said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes.

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The intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. 

Many of Israel's attacks have been carried out in the south of Lebanon, where Hezbollah has most of its operations or Beirut's southern suburbs.

Monday's attack in the Kola district was the first strike within Beirut's city limits.

(With inputs from agencies)