Lebanon's health ministry has just issued an update saying two people have been killed in the Israeli strike on Dahieh.

It adds that 76 people have been injured, with 15 of those needing hospital treatment.

But the ministry warns this is an initial death toll, with rescue operations and the removal of rubble at the site of the attack in southern Beirut ongoing - so it expects the number killed and wounded "will rise in the coming hours".

We've just heard from the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which says he is to cut his trip to the US short and return to Israel tonight.

As we've been reporting, he had been in New York to address the UN General Assembly earlier in a defiant speech which made no mention of a ceasefire.

Earlier this evening, Netanyahu's office also released this photo which they say shows him approving the strike in Beirut from his hotel room.

Image source, Prime Minister's Office

Huge attack signals that a truce is not on Israel's agendapublished at 18:21 British Summer Time 27 September

18:21 BST 27 September

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, in Jerusalem

Benjamin Netanyahu did not go to the United Nations to make new friends - or to offer concessions to Israel’s allies who want a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as a 21-day truce in the war with Lebanese Hezbollah to give diplomacy a chance.

The huge attack in Beirut that occurred as the Israeli prime minister finished his speech was an even more emphatic sign that a truce In Lebanon was not on Israel’s agenda.

Israel, Netanyahu said, had no choice but to fight savage enemies who sought its annihilation.

Hezbollah would be defeated and there would be total victory over Hamas in Gaza, which would ensure the return of Israeli hostages.

Far from being lambs led to the slaughter - a phrase sometimes used in Israel to refer to the Nazi holocaust -Israel was winning.

Iran, Netanyahu said, wanted to curse the Middle East. Israel wanted the blessing of peace with Arab states - most of all peace with Saudi Arabia.

He did not mention that the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has said firmly that peace with Israel would only be possible if the Palestinians had a state with a capital in East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu and his government have ruled out Palestinian independence, the so-called two state solution to more than a century of conflict between Arabs and Jews.

The speech will go down well with his hardline, ultra-nationalist allies who have threatened to topple his government if he makes deals with Hamas or Hezbollah.

Even many of his political opponents in Israel believe they have no choice other than to fight.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli media has been reporting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of this attack on the group's stronghold in southern Beirut.

But Hezbollah sources are telling various news organisations - including AFP, Reuters and local media in Lebanon and Iran - that Nasrallah is alive and safe after the strikes in the Dahieh suburb.

There has been no confirmation by Israel that Nasrallah was the target of the attack, nor has Hezbollah made any official statement on their leader's status.

Here's some footage of the massive plumes of smoke seen across Beirut after the air strikes:

The process of looking for survivors and victims in the rubble left by the Israeli air strikes is ongoing.

Soldiers, rescue workers and what look to be civilians are taking part in the rescue operations.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

More pictures now from the scene, where a building looks to have been left tilting heavily to one side and ambulance workers are assisting the wounded:

Image source, epa

Image source, EPA

Image source, reuters

Image source, EPA

We've just received these pictures of the aftermath of the Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

We’re trying to get near the site of the attack.

There’s chaos with ambulances trying to get to the scenes and nearby roads nearby packed with people carrying rucksacks and bags, apparently trying to flee Dahieh.

Nafiseh Kohnavard
BBC Persian Middle East correspondent, Beirut

The multiple strikes took place very close to a school where displaced people from the south of Lebanon have taken refuge.

At the beginning everyone, including us, thought it was a strong sonic boom as a result of Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier.

But then the sounds of explosions continued, round after round.

People rushed out of the building in fear. Women and children were screaming and crying. I saw some people faint, falling on the ground.

The man in charge of civil defence there was trying to calm people down, saying they were only sonic booms.

But soon we saw thick smoke coming from an area behind the building from the series of air strikes.

More from the Israeli military now, which says it has carried out a "precision strike" on Hezbollah's central headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says in a video statement that the HQ was "intentionally built under residential buildings" in the city's southern Dahieh area "as part of Hezbollah's strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields".

"Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organisation that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can live in their homes, safely and securely,” he adds.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

The large, multiple blasts reverberated through Beirut at around 18:20 local time (16:20 BST), and were unlike any other explosions heard in the city during the recent Israeli airstrikes.

The attack hit Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, an area that has been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military recently.

This is a built-up, densely populated area, and the first images of the site suggest widespread destruction.

We've just received these pictures of a large smoke plume rising over Beirut, following Israel's claims to have targeted Hezbollah's central command centre in the south of the Lebanese capital.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Israel Defense Forces has just claimed to have attacked Hezbollah's "central headquarters" in Beirut.

In an update, the Israeli military says the headquarters is located "under residential buildings" in the Dahieh suburb in the city's south.

Multiple explosions have been heard in Beirut again.

Images show large plumes of smoke in Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south of Lebanon's capital.

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli military issued an update a few moments ago saying it is "currently striking terror targets" belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

It did not provide any further details.

Yemen's Houthi movement say they have carried out a missile and drone attack on central Israel as the group pledged its support for the "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance".

In a statement, the Houthis - who, like Hezbollah, are backed by Iran - say they fired a ballistic missile at a "military target" in Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Earlier, Israeli forces said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen overnight.

The Houthis - an armed political and religious group which champions Yemen's Shia Muslim minority - also said they launched a drone towards Ashkelon, north of Gaza.

In a televised speech, the group's military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said Houthi forces "will not stop our military support operations in the coming days until the aggression against Gaza and Lebanon stops", according to Reuters news agency.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the UN General Assembly in New York was wide-ranging - here's a recap of some of the things he covered:

• He began by saying he was prompted to come to the UN after "lies and slander" spoken by other world leaders, to "set the record straight"
• Netanyahu described the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas as "reminiscent of the Holocaust", vowing to bring the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza home
• He said other Iranian proxies - Hezbollah and the Houthis - joined in the attacks, and warned Iran there was nowhere to hide from Israel
• Netanyahu called for a return of sanctions on Iran to prevent it getting nuclear weapons - and said there was "no place in Iran" that Israel couldn't reach
• He also vowed to defeat Hamas and Hezbollah, and remove the threat from them to Israeli citizens
• And Netanyahu ended by criticising the UN as "a house of darkness" and a "swamp of antisemitic bile", and said Israel should be treated as fairly as other nations
• Not all world leaders and representatives were listening to his speech - several had walked out in protest as he took to the stage

Tom Bateman
BBC state department correspondent

This was a characteristically defiant, bombastic speech from Netanyahu, going twice the time over his allotted 15 minutes; punctuated with cheers from the public gallery in which some relatives of Israeli hostages were sat.

He made no mention at all of the US-led proposal for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. In fact he vowed the opposite - to keep fighting until "all our objectives are met".

That amounts to further public rejection of American diplomacy by the Israeli leader here at the UN to pressure the sides into a truce.

Some in Washington had expected him to address their proposals in the speech, and this seemed like a humiliation for their efforts.

Instead, as he has done many times before, he centred his speech on what he called the “curse” of Iran; appealing to world powers to side with Israel against it. His country’s “long arm”, he said, could reach anywhere in Iran, and the rest of the Middle East.

A bit more now on what Netanyahu told the UN specifically on the war in Gaza - which gives an idea of how he sees a post-war Gaza.

"We don't seek to resettle Gaza," he said. "We seek a demilitarised and de-radicalised Gaza."

He added that his government was "ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in Gaza dedicated to peaceful coexistence".