JERUSALEM — The Israeli military ordered residents of 23 southern Lebanese villages on Saturday to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows from the western Bekaa Valley into the Mediterranean.
The order, communicated via a military statement, mentions villages in southern Lebanon that have been recent targets of Israeli attacks, many of which are already almost empty.
The Israeli military stated that evacuations were necessary for the safety of residents due to increased Hezbollah activities, claiming the group is using sites to conceal weapons and launch attacks on Israel. Hezbollah denies concealing its weapons among civilians.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted one year ago, when the Iranian-backed U.S.-designated terror group began launching rockets at northern Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war, has dramatically escalated over the past month.
Intensified Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut have forced 1.2 million people from their homes since September 23, according to the Lebanese government.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Saturday that more Lebanese have now been displaced than during the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, when about 1 million fled their homes.
Hezbollah strikes at Israel
Hezbollah said it launched a salvo of missiles at an Israeli military base on Saturday, as Israeli troops battled militants in Lebanon and Gaza on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Cities around Israel were quiet with markets closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as observant Jews fasted and prayed on the Day of Atonement.
But with the country at war against Hezbollah and Hamas, troops remained engaged in combat on the northern and southern frontiers amid a firestorm of criticism over the wounding of four U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Hezbollah, which has lost its leader and a long list of key commanders to Israeli strikes since the start of the war in Lebanon, on Saturday said it struck an army base with missiles to the south of the city of Haifa.
Hezbollah fighters were "targeting the explosives factory there with a salvo of ... missiles," the group said in a statement.
Air raid sirens sounded Saturday in northern Israel, with the Israeli military saying it had intercepted a projectile launched from Lebanon.
In the hours ahead of Yom Kippur, Israel faced severe diplomatic backlash over what it said was a "hit" on a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon.
Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, the UNIFIL mission said Friday.
The military said Israeli soldiers had responded with fire to "an immediate threat" around 50 meters from the UNIFIL post.
As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, Western allies and others, the military pledged to carry out a "thorough review."
'Deliberately targeted'
UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon have found themselves on the front line of the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese Health Ministry figures.
Four peacekeepers have been injured, including two Indonesians who were hurt on Thursday when an Israeli tank shot at their watchtower, according to UNIFIL.
Sean Clancy, the Irish military's chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel's explanation of Friday's incident.
"So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act," said Clancy, whose country has troops in UNIFIL.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the U.N. peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted."
Guterres condemned the firing as "intolerable" and "a violation of international humanitarian law," while the British government said it was "appalled."
U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday he was "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers.
The incidents came more than two weeks into Israel's war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes and send ground troops across the border.
Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the U.N. Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a "full and immediate cease-fire."
Lebanon's military said on Friday that an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two soldiers.
Retaliation for Iran's missile attack
After the Yom Kippur holiday, attention is likely to turn again to the expected retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country's response would be "deadly, precise and surprising," with Biden's administration pushing for a "proportionate" response that would not tip the region into a wider war.
Biden has urged Israel to avoid striking Iranian nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.
Iran-funded Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The figure includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's military campaign immediately after the attack has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians.
