At least 18 people, including four children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike near Lebanon’s largest public hospital in southern Beirut, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

At least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 were wounded in an Israeli strike on Monday near Beirut's main government hospital, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Israeli jets hit a Hezbollah target close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut but did not target the hospital and it was not affected by the strike,

An Israeli airstrike opposite a hospital in south Beirut killed at least 13 people and injured 57 hours before U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken touched down in Tel Aviv on his 11th visit to the region in a year.