Death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon reaches 560

Rescuers stand on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern village of Akbieh, Lebanon

Lebanon's Health Ministry says that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon since early Monday has reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women. Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters Tuesday that 1,835 people were wounded during the same period and were taken to 54 hospitals around Lebanon.

Abiad added that four paramedics were among those killed, and 16 paramedics and firefighters were among the wounded. Displaced families slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. With hotels quickly booked to capacity or rooms priced beyond the means of many families, those who did not find shelter slept in their cars, in parks or along the seaside.

Destruction in the Lebanese city of Baalbeck. Pics/AFP

Well-wishers offered up empty apartments or rooms in their houses in social media posts, while volunteers set up a kitchen at an empty gas station in Beirut to cook meals for the displaced.

1,600 Hezbollah targets hit

Israel continued striking Hezbollah positions in Lebanon while the Iran-backed terror group fired volleys of rockets at Haifa, Nahariya the Galilee and Jezreel Valley overnight and Tuesday morning. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the Air Force struck more than 1,600 targets in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, including missile launchers, command posts and other terror infrastructure, including those located inside civilian homes. Israeli artillery and tanks hit other Hezbollah targets in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Ramyeh near the border.

Israeli firefighters battle a blaze at the site of a Hezbollah rocket strike

Special emergency declared

The IDF said 210 rockets were fired into Israel on Monday. Several Israelis were treated for shrapnel, hurting themselves while making their way to shelter, or panic attacks. On Monday night, the Israeli Cabinet declared a "special emergency situation" countrywide, authorising officials to take measures to protect public safety. The designation will expire on Wednesday night unless the Cabinet extends it.

Thousands flee

Thousands of families from southern Lebanon packed cars and minivans with suitcases, mattresses, blankets and carpets and jammed the highway heading north toward Beirut on Monday to flee the deadliest Israeli bombardment since 2006. Some 100,000 people living near the border had already been displaced since October, when the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces began exchanging near-daily fire against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. As the fighting intensifies, the number of evacuees is expected to rise.

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