Civil defense workers carry an elderly, fleeing the south, as he arrives at a school turned into a shelter in Beirut, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024Bilal Hussein/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

Thousands flee southern Lebanon amid deadly Israeli strikes, fears of escalation mount

by · Africanews

According to Lebanon's health ministry, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in Israeli air strikes on Monday, making it the deadliest day in nearly a year of cross-border fighting.

Thousands have fled southern Lebanon as a result of the strikes, as the Israeli army said it had hit hundreds of Hezbollah targets. In response, Hezbollah fired a series of rockets into northern Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross border fire in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7th. Hezbollah claims to be acting in solidarity with Palestinian militant group Hamas, and says it will continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

Fears of an all-out war have been mounting; on Sunday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres voiced his concern that such a war could turn Lebanon into 'another Gaza'.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

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