An Israeli airstrike killed five people in central Beirut on Monday, Lebanon's health ministry said, the second day in a row Israel has hit a target within the capital as it presses its campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israel struck a densely packed Beirut neighbourhood on Monday, killing at least four people, in the third attack in two days on the city's central districts.Several hundreds of metres (yards) away was the site of a similar strike on Sunday,

The strike in a densely populated residential area comes following reports that the U.S. envoy has delayed his visit for ceasefire talks.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat. The target of the airstrike remains unclear, and the Israeli army did not issue a prior warning.

The decision followed two Israeli airstrikes, one targeting the busy shopping district of Mar Elias and another in the Ras al-Nabaa area of Beirut. According to the Ministry of Public Health, the Mar Elias strike killed three people and injured 13 others, while the Ras al-Nabaa strike killed four and injured 14.

The Israeli military pressed on Saturday with its days-long bombing campaign targeting an area near Beirut dominated by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, while in the country’s south, Israeli airstrikes killed two paramedics, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.