Israel’s military has been intensifying operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon in an apparent attempt to pressure the militant group into a cease-fire.

The escalation comes after a U.S. envoy traveled to the region to pursue a deal to end months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The strikes, which destroyed an eight-story building and left a crater in the ground, were the fourth in Beirut in less than a week.

Saturday’s attack completely demolished a multi-story building in a densely-populated neighborhood. Israel did not say who the strike’s target was.

Lebanon’s capital city is returning to a cycle of violence and destruction just as it was beginning to stabilize after years of chaos.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people in central Beirut on Saturday, Lebanon's health ministry said, one of the deadliest strikes on the heart of the capital since Israel began its assault against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in September.

The death toll from the strike on a multi-storey building in central Beirut's Basta district is expected to rise.

The strikes at 4 a.m. destroyed an eight-story building in central Beirut and left a crater in the ground. Also on Saturday, a drone strike killed two people and injured three in the southern port city of Tyre, according to the state-run National News Agency.

Dozens of people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including 20 who died after a strike flattened a multi-story residential building in central Beirut overnight, according to Lebanese officials.

A powerful Israeli air strike flattened a residential building in central Beirut early Saturday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 63 others, according to witnesses and the Health Ministry's initial count.