Transcript of Israeli strike hits flats in central Beirut - first time since beginning of offensive

Good morning. Israel has bombed an apartment block in central Beirut. It's the first time the IDF has hit the center of the Lebanese capital since the beginning of its offensive. There've been military and multiple strikes on Hezbollah's heartlands in the Southern suburbs. In a moment, we'll hear from our Middle East correspondent, Alister Bunkle, who's standing by in Jerusalem. First, though, our special correspondent, Alex Crawford, is at the scene of that strike in central Beirut for us this morning. Hello to you, Alex. Tell us more.

Well, this is a very busy transport hub. It's like Lebanese equivalent to Kings Cross, if you like. It's normally packed with transport, packed with taxis, packed with busses. There are right now also displaced people living on the nearby roundabout, just living rough. This is a residential block. It appears to have been a droner strike which hit a certain floor. We understand that four or possibly five people have been killed. Three of those appear to be connected to a Palestinian faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Now, up until now, certainly in the current conflict, this is the first time that the center of the capital has been hit. Previously, even as far back as 2006, when there was a big war between Israel and Lebanon, Israel invaded after Hezbollah crossed over into Israel. Even then, the center of Beirut was not hit. The airport was targeted, but the center of the heartland of Beirut, a big residential area, was not targeted. It's the first time that we understand this Palestinian faction has been attacked. They are not Hezbollah. None of this area is Hezbollah. There, as far as we know, no Hezbollah even around this area.

Very important to point out that the previous multiple strikes that you've seen over the past 12 days or so have centered around the Southern suburb groups of Beirut, an area which is strictly controlled by Hezbollah, the militant group which is designated terror organization by UK, Israel, and USA. They have brought some incredible damage around that area, massive amount of destruction around Dakhia. It's a very, very heavily populated area in Dakhia. Just in that one suburb, there are an estimated 600,000 people. But this is a very different target. It's a very different type of stripe. The fact that it is right in the heart of Beirut, I'm sure, will leave many Lebanese even more worried. They're already coping with a very big, on the verge of being overwhelming humanitarian crisis with the Lebanese caretaker government meeting on an almost daily basis now, having emergency cabinet meetings on how to control this tide of people who are running around the country. There are now an estimated million people who are on the run who have been displaced or have been impacted by these multiple strikes. There have also been very heavy strikes in the Beccar Valley to the east overnight in this morning, as well as down south in entire and another area inside, just about an hour away from the capital.

There are multiple airstrikes, multiple targets going on currently by the Israelis. The airport is We're only operating with one airline going in and out, the Middle East Airlines. All other airlines have canceled coming in or going out. We are seeing some small number of military planes that are coming in, carrying, we understand, humanitarian aid, even around the airport. Yesterday and the previous days, we understand there was some attack close by to the airport. But certainly, Lebanese people are very worried right now that they are going to they are going to turn into another Gaza with the Lebanese government calling for humanitarian help and really calling for a much more international pressure to bring about a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel.