Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanon's prime minister condemned Israel's killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri in Beirut's southern suburb on Tuesday, saying the attack "aims to draw Lebanon" further into the Israel-Gaza war.

Lebanon's prime minister condemned Israel's killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri in Beirut's southern suburb on Tuesday, saying the attack "aims to draw Lebanon" further into the Israel-Hamas war.

"Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed and injured many," his office said in a statement.

Initial reports have claimed 6 people have been killed and 18 injured in a strike on a Hamas office building in Al Musharrafi, a southern suburb of Beirut.

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The attack "aims to draw Lebanon into a new phase of confrontations" with Israel, at a time when Hamas ally Hezbollah has been exchanging daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Hamas television on Tuesday announced the "assassination" by Israel of the militant group's deputy head in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Saleh al-Aruri was killed in a "treacherous Zionist strike," Hamas said on its official channel.

A high-level security official in Beirut told AFP that Aruri was killed in the Israeli strike along with his bodyguards in the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs, which is a stronghold of Hamas ally Hezbollah.