At least 40 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in eastern Lebanon, including the main city of Baalbek, with rescuers still looking for survivors under the rubble.

“The series of Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek” killed “40 people and injured 53”, the Ministry of Public Health said of Wednesday’s attacks.

The death toll includes 11 people killed in Baalbek, nine of them in the Shikan district, a densely packed Sunni neighbourhood in the Shia-majority city.

An Israeli attack also killed 16 people in the village of Nasriyah, the ministry said.

“Rescue and rubble removal operations are still ongoing in search of missing persons,” it added.

The attacks took place shortly after Hezbollah’s new secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said he did not believe that political action would bring an end to Israel’s offensive. He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations, however, if Israel stopped its bombardment of Lebanon.

At least 3,050 people have been killed and 13,658 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began, according to Health Ministry figures.