At least four Lebanese paramedics, 12 rescue workers reported killed in two Israeli strikes on civil defence centres.

The deaths on Wednesday made it one of the most lethal days for the Israeli military since it invaded Lebanon last month to battle Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli officials are insisting on maintaining a capacity to strike Lebanon at any moment as part of conditions to secure a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah, France's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people in the village of Aalmat, north of Beirut and far from the areas in southern and eastern Lebanon where the militant Hezbollah group has a major presence. Lebanon's Health Ministry said a further six people were wounded. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

“Israel is striking everywhere. There is nowhere that is safe anymore,” she added. Another woman in her 80s was being rushed to a car. She had moved to Aramoun a month ago, also from Beirut’s southern suburbs. After the strike, she left with everyone else in the building and spent two or three hours in their car on the street.

An Israeli airstrike has killed at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers inside a civil defense center in the eastern city of Baalbek.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers on Thursday inside a civil defense center in the eastern city of Baalbek.