The final death toll will not be clear until the many body parts that have been dug up have been identified, according to the Health Department.
Six rockets are said to have hit the house in the Basta district, according to Lebanon's state news agency NNA. The attack left a massive crater where rescue workers were searching for missing people in the rubble late into Saturday.
A 60-year-old man who lives in the house opposite describes how he was forced to flee with his wife and children in the middle of the night.
The attack was so powerful that it felt like the building was going to collapse over us, he tells AFP.
We saw two dead people on the ground. The children started crying and their mother cried even more.
Possible Bunker Bombs
It is relatively rare for Israeli attacks to target central Beirut. Usually, areas further south in the capital are attacked, where the Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah has its strongest strongholds.
Several media outlets report that the target of the attack may have been a high-ranking Hezbollah leader, likely Mohammed Haidar, leader of the movement's so-called "jihad council". According to reports, the attack – which was not preceded by any warning – may have been carried out with bunker bombs, which dig deep into the ground before detonating.
The Lebanese security source confirms to AFP that the target of the attack was a "leading Hezbollah figure". It has not been possible to confirm whether he was killed, the source says.
However, Hezbollah politician Amin Sherri claims that none of the movement's high-ranking officials were in the building when it was bombed, writes L'Orient-Le Jour.
Children Killed in Eastern Lebanon
On Saturday morning, reports emerged that southern Beirut had also been attacked. The area has since been attacked several times during the day.
In Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, eight people, including four children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a residential building, according to NNA.
Several people have also been killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
In total, at least 30 people have been killed in southern and eastern Lebanon during the day, according to the country's Health Department.
Hezbollah claims to have fired several rockets at northern Israel.
Israel has not commented on the attack on Basta in central Beirut.
