The direct hit on a seven-storey building tore through parts of the structure, injuring four people, the military and rescue services said.

The strike took place minutes after the military warned it had detected a new round of missiles fired from Iran at around 1500 GMT.

The building was hit by a "direct impact of a missile", a military spokesperson told AFP, confirming the missile was fired from Iran.

Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when the building sustained a direct hit.

Israel's Fire and Rescue Services said firefighters were searching for three missing people "at the scene of a building that has partially collapsed".

AFP footage showed rescuers using flashlights to search through the building's rubble and scattered concrete blocks.

The injured included an 82-year-old man, MDA said, adding that he was in a "serious condition". A hospital later said he was stable.

He was "wounded by a heavy object and the blast", the MDA said, adding that the other three suffered shrapnel and blast injuries.

The three injured included a 10-month old baby who suffered a head injury, MDA said.

Dozens of Israeli security and members of rescue forces were deployed at the site of the strike, an AFP correspondent reported.

Images and footage published by MDA show smoke rising from the remains of a flattened building in a densely populated area, and stretchers laid on the road by rescuers for casualties.

MDA paramedic Shevach Rothenshtrych quoted residents saying that there were casualties trapped under the rubble on the lower floors, and the 82-year-old was rescued after first responders "managed to move large pieces of concrete with our hands".

His colleague Tal Shustak said that when emergency calls were received, "we were dispatched in large forces to the scene and saw extensive destruction, including glass, smoke and concrete scattered across the ground".

On Sunday, the military detected five waves of missiles fired from Iran, and each time it said its "defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat".

Iran has fired missiles daily at Israel since February 28, in retaliation to joint US-Israeli attacks on the country that has killed several top Iranian leaders, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Since the start of the conflict, Israeli and US airstrikes have attacked number of Iran's missile production sites and also nuclear facilities.