At least six people were killed in an Israeli air attack on an apartment building in central Beirut, Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said.

A further 11 people were wounded in the attack in Beirut late on Wednesday, the ministry said.

The attack started a fire in an apartment in a multistorey building in the residential Bashoura district, not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament.

Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following the attack, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) accused Israel of using internationally banned phosphorous bombs.

Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in conflict-hit southern Lebanon.

A total of 17 overnight air raids had hit Beirut by dawn on Thursday, NNA reported.

On Tuesday, Israel launched ground incursions into Lebanon against Hezbollah while continuing to conduct attacks on Gaza, killing dozens of people, including children, in the last two days.

The Israeli military said eight soldiers died in the fighting in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.