The death toll from an Israeli air strike that targeted Hezbollah military commanders in Beirut's southern suburbs this week has risen to 45, Lebanon's health ministry said Sunday.

"The number of dead has risen to 45 people," a ministry statement said, updating an earlier toll of 37 from the Friday attack. It said "work continues to remove the rubble for the third day in a row" and that DNA sampling would be used to determine the identities of some of the bodies.

Hezbollah has confirmed that at least 16 of its members, including two of its most senior leaders, were killed in the strike while they were meeting in the basement of a Beirut apartment building.