Fresh Israeli strikes have killed more than 490 people — including 90 women and children — with 1,645 wounded according to Lebanese authorities.
This represents the deadliest barrage between Tel Aviv and Beirut since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, which resulted in roughly 1,200 deaths over 33 days of fighting.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets on Monday, with the spokesperson saying many were hidden in residential areas and concealed in private homes.
Ahead of its widening air campaign against Hezbollah, the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate, forcing thousands to flee to the southern port city of Sidon.
In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying “take this warning seriously”.
“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
Israel military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army would do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah from Lebanon’s border with Israel. Israel was prepared to launch a ground invasion on Lebanon if necessary, he added, but that the country was not “looking for wars”.
“We are looking to take down the threats,” Hagari said. “We will do whatever is necessary to do to achieve this mission.”
The IDF said the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah — which supports Hamas in Gaza — has launched over 9,000 rockets and drones into Israeli territory since last October, including roughly 250 on Monday.
Earlier strikes hit medical services
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the earlier strikes hit hospitals, medical centres and ambulances. The government ordered nurseries, schools and universities to close nationwide and began preparing shelters for the displaced.
Some strikes hit residential areas in the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley. One hit a wooded area as far away as Byblos, more than 130 kilometres from the border north of Beirut.
Israel said it was expanding the airstrikes to include areas of the valley along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria.
Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi said Israel was preparing its “next phases” of operations against Hezbollah, and that its airstrikes were “proactive”, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure built over the past 20 years.
Halevi said the goal was to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.
World leaders concerned about increasing hostilities
A spokesperson for US President Joe Biden said the administration is worried about what’s happening between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza is key to easing tensions in the region.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically,” she told reporters travelling with Biden to New York, where he is to deliver his final address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely concerned” about the escalating situation along the Blue Line — a line dividing Lebanon from Israel — and the “large number of civilian casualties”.
“I’m also gravely alarmed by the continued strikes by Hezbollah into Israel. I call on all to protect civilians & civilian infrastructure,” he said in a post on social media platform X.
UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border have stopped their patrols and are staying in their bases “given the volume of exchange of fire”, a spokesperson for the diplomatic and political organisation said.
It comes days after the EU called for an “immediate ceasefire” between the groups. “Civilians on both sides are paying an enormous price,” said Josep Borell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, in a statement posted on X.