Israeli air strikes killed at least 100 Lebanese on Monday, as Israel’s military ordered residents in Lebanon to leave their homes amid a heavy bombing campaign.
At least 100 people were killed and 400 wounded, including children, women and medics in Israeli attacks on the south, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The outskirts of several towns and villages in the south and the Bekaa valley in the east were targeted with air strikes, according to Lebanese broadcaster al-Manar.
A rocket hit an uninhabited mountainside east of Jbeil, a historic coastal town north of Beirut also known as Byblos, state media reported.
In the Hermel region in the northeast, at least one person was killed and six wounded by an Israeli strike, the health ministry said.
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Residents in Beirut and south Lebanon told Middle East Eye that they were called on their landline and ordered to evacuate 1km away from alleged Hezbollah sites.
Some residents also received calls and text messages in Beirut from a Lebanese number ordering them to evacuate immediately, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Lebanon’s information minister, Ziad Makary, told Reuters that his ministry received the same Israeli order, via a recorded voice message, but that it would not be evacuating. “This is a psychological war,” he said.
More than 80,000 call attempts to Lebanese people telling them to evacuate their homes were made, according to the head of the telecoms company Ogero.
On Monday morning, Avichay Adraee, Israel’s spokesperson for Arabic-speaking media, posted an animated video on X alleging that Lebanese know there are Hezbollah weapons in their homes.
The allegation was made with no evidence and was accompanied by more warnings to flee.
Footage shared on social media showed a large number of Lebanese people in the south fleeing in their vehicles.
Local media reported chaotic scenes in the city of Saida, where roads were blocked as residents scrambled to leave.
Wave of Israeli attacks
Early on Monday morning, Israeli jets carried out over 80 air raids within just 30 minutes.
“We are deepening our attacks in Lebanon,” Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said in a video address.
“These are days in which the Israeli public will have to show composure.”
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “We will do whatever is needed”, when asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon.
Schools will be closed on Monday and Tuesday in the south and the Bekaa valley region amid the Israeli escalation, Al-Jadeed news reported.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said on Monday that it had launched dozens of rockets at several Israeli military posts.
The Israeli army said that 35 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into northern Israel, some of which were intercepted.
Local Israel fire departments were called in several parts of the north to put out flames. Five people were lightly wounded by a rocket that landed near the Golani Interchange in the Galilee region, according to Israeli emergency services.
The attacks on Monday came at a time of some of the heaviest Israeli strikes since war broke out last October.
On Friday, an Israeli air strike on a densely populated suburb in southern Beirut killed 45 people, including several children and women.
Hezbollah said 16 of its members were killed by the attack, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and top commander Ahmed Wahbi.
It came days after two days of Israeli attacks detonating booby-trapped pagers and radios belonging to Hezbollah.
At least 39 people were killed in those attacks, and over 3,000 wounded.
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