"Tens of thousands" of people in Lebanon have fled their homes since Monday amid Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah targets in the south of the country, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday. The UN children's agency UNICEF separately said further escalation in the conflict, which has so far killed more than 550 people including 50 children, "will be absolutely catastrophic for all children in Lebanon".
The United Nations said Tuesday that tens of thousands of people had fled their homes in Lebanon since Monday amid continuing Israeli strikes.
"We are gravely concerned about the serious escalation in the attacks that we saw yesterday," UN refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters in Geneva.
"Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow," he said.
The death toll from Israeli air strikes in Lebanon since early Monday has reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women, the Lebanese health ministry said Tuesday.
Longtime foes Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire since Palestinian militant group Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel last October 7.
Monday's bombardment of Lebanon was by far the largest, not just in the past year, but since the war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in the summer of 2006.
"This is a region that has already been devastated by war and a country that knows suffering all too well," Saltmarsh said.
"The toll on civilians is unacceptable."
Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, also said the agency was "extremely alarmed by the sharp escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah".
Shamdasani called on "all parties to immediately cease the violence and to ensure the protection of civilians".
The UN children's agency meanwhile decried the impact on young people in Lebanon.
"We are warning today that any further escalation in this conflict will be absolutely catastrophic for all children in Lebanon," said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF deputy representative in Lebanon, speaking via video link from Beirut.
"Yesterday was Lebanon's worst day in 18 years. This violence has to stop immediately, or the consequences will be unconscionable."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
