Israel's deadliest strike in central Beirut leaves Lebanese stunned as they dig through the rubble

Rescue workers searched through the rubble of a collapsed building in central Beirut on Friday morning, hours after two Israeli strikes hit the Lebanese capital, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens.

The air raid was the deadliest attack on central Beirut in over a year of war, hitting two residential buildings in neighborhoods that have swelled with displaced people fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere in the country.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television and Israeli media said the strikes aimed to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group. Al-Manar said Safa was not in either building at the time. The Israeli military had no comment on the reports.

Thursday night's strikes came as Israel escalates its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border, after a year of exchanges of fire between the two rivals.

In Beirut's Burj Abi Haidar neighborhood, civil defense members and municipal workers dug through the pile of concrete and twisted metal from a three-story building knocked down by Thursday night's strike.

In an adjacent building that was badly damaged, Ahmad al-Khatib stood in the apartment of his in-laws where he, his wife, Marwa Hamdan, and their 2 ½-year-old daughter, Ayla, suffered injuries. He had just picked up his wife from work and she was performing the evening Muslim prayers at home when the blast hit.

"The world suddenly turned upside down and darkness prevailed," said the 42-year-old, tears running down his cheeks. He pulled his daughter out from under the debris of a wall that collapsed in a bedroom. Al-Khatib, who works for the postal service, said he found the force of the explosion had thrown his wife against a wall and a piece of metal had hit her in the head.

"I looked in her face and shouted, 'Say something!'" he said, but she only responded with sounds of pain. His wife remains in the ICU at a Beirut hospital. His daughter suffered only minor injuries.

Mohammed Tarhani said he had moved in with his brother nearby in the neighborhood after fleeing around southern Lebanon to escape airstrikes the past weeks. His children were out on the veranda, and he was in the living room when the strike hit.

"We rushed out to look for the children," he said. "Where is one supposed to go now?"

Civil defense official Walid Hashash said they don't expect more bodies under the rubble as no people are missing. He added that once operations are over they will issue a final death toll.