Israeli attacks, threats fuel mass displacement crisis in southern Lebanon 

Israel has issued a forced evacuation order to all residents of southern Lebanon, worsening a wave of mass displacement as the Israeli military continues to launch deadly attacks across the country.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Israeli army ordered Lebanese civilians to “evacuate [their] homes immediately and move north beyond the Litani River” as it planned to bomb what it described as Hezbollah targets.

“Tens of thousands of people are being forced north,” Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reported from the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

At least 83,000 people have been displaced from their homes across Lebanon since Israel launched renewed air strikes on the country earlier this week, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs.

Intensified cross-border fighting resumed on Monday after Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israeli territory following Saturday’s start of attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran, which backs the Lebanese group.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 72 people – including seven children – have been killed and 437 others wounded in the wave of Israeli attacks, which have targeted the south of the country as well as areas of the capital, Beirut.

The Israeli military also pushed deeper into Lebanese territory on Monday, launching a ground invasion of southern Lebanon alongside its aerial bombardment.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said on Wednesday that Israel was widening the scope of its attacks, levelling at least five residential buildings in the city’s southern suburbs.

“There are Israeli warplanes, the constant buzzing of Israeli drones and people receiving phone calls telling them to evacuate their buildings. There is chaos and a lot of panic in Lebanon about where this conflict is heading,” she reported.

Hezbollah also announced more than a dozen military operations against Israel on Wednesday, including rocket launches and direct clashes with Israeli troops, as it stepped up the tempo of its attacks.

Aid groups have warned that the renewed fighting will have dire consequences for a Lebanese population already reeling from a steady barrage of Israeli attacks since Israel began its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday that tens of thousands of people were already uprooted from their homes before this week’s attacks began.

UNICEF said in a statement that “over 12,000 families found refuge in over 300 shelters opened nationwide, with dozens already at full capacity”.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his government would “spare no effort” to end the war and help displaced families return to their homes.

“Our people who had to leave their homes are not responsible for what has befallen them. They are victims – victims of policies not of their making,” Salam said during a news conference.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also asked the US ambassador to Lebanon during a meeting on Wednesday to urge Washington to intervene to stop the Israeli attacks, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency.

The US-Israeli war with Iran, which has killed more than 1,000 people in that country since Saturday, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim, has fuelled a spiralling crisis across the Middle East.

Tehran has launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes on numerous countries in the region, killing at least six US service members and 11 people in Israel.