UN warns of 'catastrophe' as Lebanon's strikes force Israelis to shelters

Hundreds of thousands of people sought shelter from Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Sunday, the military said, as a UN official warned of imminent regional "catastrophe" from the worsening violence.

Further exchanges of fire came after military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari late Saturday said dozens of Israeli warplanes were "widely" striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Deadly attacks targeted this week Hezbollah communications and decimated the leadership of its elite unit, although its ability to fight has not been crushed, analysts said.

An Israeli air strike on Friday killed the head of Hezbollah's elite unit Ibrahim Aqil, whose funeral in Beirut on Sunday is expected to draw large crowds.

"With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer," United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on social media platform X.

The death toll from Friday's attack on a densely-populated Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut rose again Sunday and has reached 45, the health ministry said.

The Israeli army said more than 100 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon early on Sunday.

"Hundreds of thousands of people had to take refuge in bomb shelters" across northern Israel, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shosh ani told AFP.

The military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response to the rocket fire and, Shoshani said, "to prevent a larger-scale attack".

Warnings to leave

Israel's civil defence agency ordered all schools in the country's north closed following the rocket fire.

"It reminds me of October 7 when everybody stayed home," Haifa resident Patrice Wolff told AFP, referring to the day of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and another wounded in an "Israeli strike" near the border.

Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military production facilities and an air base in the Haifa area in response to the communication device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 39 and wounded almost 3,000.

"In an initial response" to the explosions of the pagers and two-way radios, which it blamed on Israel, Hezbollah "bombed the Rafael military industry complexes" in northern Israel with "dozens" of rockets, the group said.

The US State Department urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial options remain available. Jordan on Sunday urged its nationals to do the same.

On Saturday, an Israeli military statement said Israeli aircraft "struck thousands" of rocket launchers ready to fire from southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah said it targeted at least seven military positions in northern Israel and the annexed Golan Heights with rockets.

Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said three children and seven women were killed in Friday's s trike on an underground meeting room in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel said the "targeted strike" had killed Aqil, the Radwan Force chief, and several other commanders.

The elite Radwan Force has spearheaded Hezbollah's ground operations, and Israel has repeatedly called for its fighters to be pushed back from the border.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that the communication device attack was an "unprecedented" blow, vowing that Israel -- which has not commented on the blasts -- would face retribution.