MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) 鈥� Israeli strikes Monday on Lebanon killed more than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of its widening air campaign against .
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.
Lebanon's health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people 鈥� a staggering one-day toll for from last week.
In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying 鈥渢ake this warning seriously.鈥�
鈥淧lease get out of harm鈥檚 way now,鈥� Netanyahu said. 鈥淥nce our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.鈥�
Israel's military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the army will do 鈥渨hatever is necessary鈥� to push Hezbollah from Lebanon鈥檚 border with Israel.
Hagari claimed Monday鈥檚 widespread airstrikes had inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah. But he would not give a timeline for the ongoing operation and said Israel was prepared to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon if needed.
鈥淲e are not looking for wars. We are looking to take down the threats,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e will do whatever is necessary to do to achieve this mission."
Hagari said Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.
The military said Israeli warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones. The spokesman said many were hidden in residential areas, showing photos of what he said were weapons concealed in private homes.
鈥淗ezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,鈥� he told a news conference.
Israel estimates Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.
Earlier Monday evening, the Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted strike in Beirut. It did not give details. Lebanon鈥檚 state-run National News Agency reported three missiles hit southern Beirut's Beir al-Abed neighborhood. Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said six people were wounded.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the earlier strikes hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances. The government ordered schools and universities to close across most of the country and began preparing shelters for the displaced.
Some strikes hit residential areas in the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley. One hit a wooded area as far away as Byblos, more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the border north of Beirut.
Israel said it was expanding the airstrikes to include areas of the valley along Lebanon鈥檚 eastern border with Syria. Hezbollah has long had an established presence in the valley, where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guards.
Israel鈥檚 military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Israel was preparing its 鈥渘ext phases鈥� of operations against Hezbollah, and that its airstrikes were 鈥減roactive,鈥� targeting Hezbollah infrastructure built over the past 20 years.
Halevi said the goal was to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets toward Israel, including at military bases. It also targeted for a second day the facilities of the Rafael defense firm, headquartered in Haifa.
The evacuation warnings were the first of their kind in nearly a year of and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed and dozens of fighters.
The increasing strikes and counterstrikes have raised fears of all-out war, even as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza and tries to negotiate the release of scores of hostages taken . Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes in solidarity with Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group.
A spokeswoman for President Joe Biden said the administration was concerned about what鈥檚 happening between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and insisted that getting a cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza was key to easing tensions in the region.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in everyone鈥檚 interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically,鈥� White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden to New York, where he is to deliver his final address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.
A State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic efforts, said the U.S. and numerous other countries were keen to present an 鈥渙ff-ramp鈥� for both Israel and Hezbollah to reduce tensions and prevent an all-out war.
The U.S. has 鈥渃oncrete ideas鈥� for restoring calm that it will present to allies and partners at this week's U.N. General Assembly, the official said. He wouldn't detail what the 鈥渃oncrete ideas鈥� were because he said they had yet to be presented to allies and partners for what he termed a 鈥渟tress test鈥� for their likelihood of success.
U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, meanwhile, have stopped their patrols and are staying in their bases 鈥済iven the volume of exchange of fire,鈥� a U.N. spokesman said. St茅phane Dujarric told reporters that U.N. Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres was 鈥渁larmed鈥� at the escalating violence and large number of civilian casualties reported in Lebanon.
Monday's death toll far surpassed that of Beirut鈥檚 , when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated, killing at least 218 people and wounding more than 6,000.
The Lebanese Health Ministry asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone non-urgent surgeries to treat people wounded by 鈥淚srael鈥檚 expanding aggression on Lebanon.鈥�
On Monday, residents received text messages reading: 鈥淚f you are in a building housing weapons for Hezbollah, move away from the village until further notice,鈥� Lebanese media reported.
Lebanon's information minister, Ziad Makary, said his office in Beirut had received a recorded message telling people to leave the building.
鈥淭his comes in the framework of the psychological war implemented by the enemy,鈥� Makary said, and urged people 鈥渘ot to give the matter more attention than it deserves.鈥�
Communities on both sides of the border have largely emptied because of the near-daily exchanges of fire.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of transforming entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead the Israeli military to wage an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if no ground forces move in.
An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen fighters, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.
Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, , killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny responsibility.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the Oct. 7 attack in what it said was an attempt to pin down Israeli forces to help Palestinian fighters in Gaza. Israel has retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily intensified.
Hezbollah has said it will keep up attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but as the war nears its anniversary.
Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 captives are still held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Israel's offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. It says women and children make up a little over half of those killed. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
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Lidman reported from Jerusalem, and Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut; Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani in New York; and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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Bassam Hatoum, Melanie Lidman And Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press
