The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 40 people, including women and children were killed in Israeli attack on Wednesday, reports BBC.
The ministry said “40 people had been killed and 53 others injured in a series of Israeli strikes in Bekaa and Baalbek governorates, which make up most of the eastern Bekaa Valley. They included 16 people killed in the village of Nasriyah and 11 in Baalbek city”.
A man who lived on one of the upper floors of the apartment building that was hit said his son and wife were injured by falling masonry.
"These rocks that you see here weigh 100kg, they fell on a 13kg kid," Moussa Zahran told Reuters news agency as he surveyed the damage.
“I removed [the rocks] and... handed my son to the civil defence through the window. I carried my wife and came downstairs and got out behind the building... I thank God, glory be to Him, for this miracle.”
An Irish Times correspondent cited a member of the civil defence at the scene as saying that those killed whose bodies were found complete included seven women and three children - a seven-month-old baby and two girls aged seven and 12.
Neighbours also said the building was housing displaced people who had fled from other areas, she added.
There was no evacuation warning ahead of the strike, according to Reuters.
Lebanon's culture minister said one of the strikes also seriously damaged an Ottoman-era building in the vicinity of the Roman ruins in the city of Baalbek, which is a Unesco World Heritage site.
Lebanese Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada also told the director-general of Unesco that one of the strikes had "caused serious damage to the ancient Manshiya building" in Baalbek city, which he said dated back to the Ottoman period and was located in the vicinity of the ruins of several Roman temples.
"The destruction of this exceptional monument next to a Unesco World Heritage site is an irremediable loss for Lebanon and for world heritage," he warned.
However, the Israeli Defcece Forces denied of bombing on civilians saying, it “struck Hezbollah command centres, weapons stores and other infrastructure”.
Bd-Pratidin English/ Afsar Munna
