Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, killing more than 274 people, as the Israeli military called on residents to immediately evacuate places where it said Hezbollah was storing weapons.
Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, blocking the main highway leading to Beirut. At least 1,024 people were injured in the attacks, according to the Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said it had struck 300 targets linked to Hezbollah weapons sites on Monday and was expanding the operation to include areas in the Bekaa Valley along Lebanon's eastern border.
Residents in different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media that they said showed their towns under attack.
The wave of airstrikes came a day after Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets toward northern Israel, some of which landed near the city of Haifa.
The Hezbollah rockets were in response to an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb on Friday that killed a senior Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen members of the group, along with civilians including women and children.
Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah militants, exploded across Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
