The airstrikes in southern Lebanon seemed to have sparked an exodus as people scramble to leave the area and head for the capital, Beirut.
The education minister, Dr Abbas Halabi, said some schools in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Chouf and Aley will be used as shelters for those fleeing.
There are already 160,000 displaced Lebanese who’ve fled the south during nearly a year of cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah.
We are passing a long queue of traffic heading northwards out of Sidon. The city has been hit several times today by Israeli airstrikes.
The queue appears to be several miles long. Some vehicles are piled high with luggage on their roofs.
But we are seeing large numbers of city residents still in the centre, sitting in cafes and milling around.
One of the Israeli strikes in Sidon hit close to the Miye Miye camp, which is a very densely populated Palestinian community in the centre of the city.
The area hit seems to be a main road connecting this part of the city to the rest of Sidon.
Israel’s patience can run out, government warns
An Israeli government spokesman has warned its patience is “not inexhaustible” as he spoke about ongoing clashes with Hezbollah since 7 October last year.
In that time, Hezbollah has launched more than 9,000 rockets at Israel, David Mencer says in a daily televised update.
As a result, 325 Israelis have been wounded, 48 killed including children, and 63,500 evacuated, he says.
“As the prime minister and the defence minister have made clear, Israel’s patience is not inexhaustible.”
He also confirms it was the IDF that sent earlier “pleas” to Lebanon residents to evacuate areas due to be targeted by Israeli airstrikes today.
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