Lebanon said that Israeli strikes killed three people and injured dozens a day earlier in Qana, a southern village that suffered heavy civilian casualties from Israeli attacks in 1996 and 2000, AFP reports.

AFP footage showed mass destruction in the village, with entire buildings levelled and rescuers scouring the rubble for survivors a day after the attack.

“Successive Israeli enemy strikes yesterday on the village of Qana killed three people and injured 54,” the ministry said in a statement adding that work was still underway to clear the rubble.

Hassan Dbouk, who heads the union of municipalities for the Tyre district, where Qana is located, told AFP the death toll was likely to rise because rescue efforts were still ongoing.

“There is no final toll. The raid was huge and available equipment to remove the rubble limited,” he said over the phone.

He said the strikes targeted the village square, which had become a refuge for people displaced from other parts of the south.