Fleeing Lebanon on foot
Israel’s military said on Saturday that about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were lightly injured.
At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.
Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.
Associated Press journalists saw hundreds continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria.
“We were on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now heading back. “The roads were very crowded… it was very difficult. We almost died getting here.”
Some children whimpered or cried. Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes.
“We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.
The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads and weapons storage facilities. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.
More evacuation orders in Gaza
Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry there, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are now displaced, amid widespread destruction.
Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza on Saturday killed at least nine people. One in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five, including two children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four, Awda hospital said.
Israel’s military did not have any immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.
An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighbourhood, according to the civil defence first responders’ group that operates under the Hamas-run government.
Israel’s military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza that was at the heart of obstacles to a cease-fire deal. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated a humanitarian zone.
It’s unclear how many Palestinians are in those areas. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.
