The news comes as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered residents of the regional capital Nabateeh and 24 other cities and towns in the south to leave immediately for their safety.
Unlike the communities ordered to evacuate on Tuesday, these are all located north of the Litani River, about 30km from the border.
Before the invasion, Israel had demanded that Hezbollah withdraw from Litani in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution that ended their last war in 2006.
Speaking to the BBC from Beirut, Matthew Hollingworth, World Food Programme (WFP) Lebanon country director, described the situation there as “horrendous”.
“There’s black smoke rising over the southern suburbs and I see it every morning when I get to work and I see it all day long. And around the city, a noticeable number of people have become refugees.”
“There are cars everywhere from people fleeing the fighting in the south of the country and the southern suburbs. “There’s traffic everywhere, people sleeping outside.”
Juan Gabriel Wells, head of the International Rescue Committee’s Lebanon branch, said nearly half of the refugees his organization surveyed in government-run shelters were children under 15.
