Transcript of Thousands flee southern Lebanon as death toll from Israeli strikes rises | BBC News

In Lebanon, where thousands of people in the south have been fleeing their homes after Israel conducted an intense and wide-ranging airstrike attack across the country. The Lebanese Health Ministry says almost 500 people were killed, including dozens of women and children. At least 1,600 people were injured. Israel's attack on towns and villages in the south and east of Lebanon made it the deadliest day of the cross-border conflict with Hezbollah in nearly 20 years. The Israel Defense Forces said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets overnight. The Iranian-backed group, which is designated a terrorist organization by many Western countries, including the UK, says it fired dozens of its own rockets, at Israel. Many people in Southern Lebanon have chosen to flee. These pictures show a mass exodus of cars heading to Beirut in the north. World leaders are trying to diffuse tensions with the White House saying that President Biden will We present concrete plans for ending the crisis later this week. Here's Iruna Iyanga.

Israel said it hit around 1,300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon yesterday. There were warnings, phone messages to residents to leave areas where Hezbollah weapons were stored, and this from Israel's Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu.

Don't let Hezbollah endanger your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Don't let Hezbollah to endanger Lebanon. Please get out of harm's way now.

On the roads, a mass exodus, tens of thousands heading north towards Beirut. And in the port city of Saida, people took whatever transport they could to get to safety. This school opened its gates to give shelter to families. This woman said, They struck right next to our house and our building was shaking. We got very stressed. This is why we had to leave and we came here. We were told it's safe here. Hezbollah, which is designated a terrorist organization by the UK government, has hit back. In Northern Israel, David had seconds to get into a safe room before a rocket came through his roof. He says Israel did not want this war.

We don't have a war with them. They start with no reason.

So now we are giving back.

Across Northern Israel, sirens waled and rockets fell. Overnight, missiles were intercepted over the Northern Israeli city of Haifa. Israel has acknowledged the high number of casualties in Lebanon. It says Hezbollah had hidden weapons inside people's rooms and says its strikes were precisely targeted.

You can see here that the rocket is stored on an hydraulic system and is prepared for a launch out of an opening in the roof, directed at the communities in Northern Israel, and more than that. Under this attic, a family lives and serves as a human shield for Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, world leaders are viewing these events with unease. Us President Joe Biden met with the President of the United Arab Emirates yesterday. The two leaders say they're discussing ways to bring down tensions in the region. At the UN General Assembly in New York, there's been calls by France and from the UK's Foreign Secretary, David Lamme, to bring about a ceasefire. Israel and Hezbollah are old enemies. This looks like a new chapter of the war. It's the people of Lebanon and Northern Israel who are caught in the middle. Aruna Iyengar, BBC News.

Well, let's speak to Yossi Baylind, former Justice Minister of Israel, and one of the initiators of Israel Palestine Oslo Peace Accords. Thank you for joining us here on BBC News. Just watching those pictures, 490 92 dead, thousands displaced, many more scared and frightened. What do you make to this escalation in terms of Israeli airstrikes over the last few days?

It's a crazy situation. It's an ongoing nightmare since October seventh, last year, almost a year from then. And what happened was that after the massacre of Hamas in in the Kippud Sim of the south, Hezbollah announced immediately on the day after that they will launch their attacks on the northern part of Israel, and as a identification or emotional support for Hamas. So it was really not provoked by any Israeli. They tried to have a low-level war between us so that Israel had to evacuate more than 60,000 people to the south. These people, the kids don't study or study in a very, very partial way. The parents don't work. It is a nightmare for them and for the whole of Israel. Now, I'm not defending the current government of Israel. I believe that Netanyahu should have resigned immediately after the massacre a year ago. But nevertheless, the situation is that Israel did not have an intention to attack Lebanon, which doesn't have actually any institutions. I mean, everything is there, broken, the government, the parliament. There is nothing but Hezbala, actually. But when Hezbala decided to increase the level of violence, there was no other option for Israel but to act.

When Israel acts, it is not a joke. I mean, Israel knows how to act, and And Hezbal understands that it is a strong country, and retaliation would be very helpful.

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterash, he's been quoted as saying he doesn't want Lebanon to become another Gaza. Do you think that's a possibility?

I hope not. I hope that it will not happen. And I also know the solution. The solution is very simple in Lebanon. We agreed in 2006 to the UN Resolution 1701, which among many other things ordered that Hezbala would in the south to the certain river then, and that there will be a negotiation on several issues between the government of Lebanon and the government of Israel. I believe that what should be done is to return to the same UN resolution. I'm sure that my friend, Antonio Gautierish, knows exactly what a what a resolution it is. It is It's a very good one, but it was not fully implemented. It should be implemented. There should be tools to implement this very specific resolution, and that will put an end to the war.

Mr. Berlin, you were saying that there should be quite a simple solution. It doesn't feel that simple at the moment. We've got air strikes first. Do you think ground forces going in is the only way to get to what you're talking about for the Israeli war aims to be satisfied?

God forbid, really. God forbid. It's so unneeded to continue it now. I think that the best way for both sides, which paid already a high price in the last year, is to sit together. Hezbollah will not sit with Israel. As you mentioned before, it is considered a terrorist, and rightly so, a terrorist organization. But through the UN or another third party, And put an end to it. Now, a land attack is going to be very costly. I mean, Israel will win this war as it won other wars. But the price might be really, really unneeded, neither for Israel nor for Lebanon. We should put an end to it. And the Secretary of General is right in saying that it will be very bad if the air strikes will continue by land attacks. I don't think that the Israelis are eager to have such an attack. We don't need it.

Who needs it? Hoshibholin, really good to talk to you, former Justice Minister of Israel. As we said earlier, one of the initiators of the Israel-Palestine Oslo Peace Accords. Thank you. Well, in a moment, we will speak to Yoland Nell in Jerusalem. But let's go first to our Middle East correspondent, Hugo Bershge, who is in Beirut for us this morning. Hello to you, Hugo. We're seeing the pictures of thousands of people fleeing from the south of Lebanon. Just take us through how people are feeling in the country today.

Yes, Sarah. So all night, people were still trying to reach Beirut, leaving towns and villages in Southern Lebanon. We met some families who were carrying just a few bags with some belongings. They described to us the intensity of those attacks that happened in the south. That is the deadliest day in Lebanon since at least 2006, the last time Israel and Hezbollah fought a war. A government minister here described these attacks as Israeli atrocities countries. The government is saying that most of the sites that were hit were residential sites. Even though the Israeli military is saying that it targeted Hezbollah positions, it accused Hezbollah of using those houses to to hide rockets and weapons accusing Hezbollah of using the civilian population of those places as human shields. Now, Hezbollah has been weakened, but it remains a powerful force here in Lebanon. It hasn't deployed its most sophisticated weapons, including precision guided missiles that can strike deep inside Israel. They have remained defiant. They say that their attacks on Israel are going to continue continue unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza. The indications from Israel is that this is just the beginning of their campaign against Hezbollah, a campaign that could include a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon to try to create a so-called buffer zone along the border to push Hezbollah fighters away.

So there is the fear here in Lebanon that we could see even more violence in this conflict. I think for the tens of thousands of people who've been displaced from communities in Southern Lebanon, for many of them, there's the very real possibility that they may never be able to go back home.

Okay, Hugo Bershge in Beirut. Thank you very much. Let's go to Jerusalem and Yoland Nell. Yoland, just take us through, again, from the Israeli perspective, why they are carrying out this unprecedented, what, 1,600 targets are hit over the last recent few hours. Just tell us why they're doing that.

Well, last week, Israel made it one of its war aims that it would return tens of thousands of people to their homes in the north of Israel. They have been displaced by the fighting that has gone on in parallel to the Gaza War in the north of the country, with near daily exchanges of fire across the border between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now, what Israel is saying is it has managed now to put tens of thousands of rockets out of use from Hezbollah's last large arsenal. We actually have the defense Minister, Yohav Galant, coming out, calling this a masterpiece, what happened through the course of the day, saying it was really the most difficult week for Hezbollah since its creation in the early 1980s. We've had the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as well, talking about the need to restore what he called the security balance in the north of the country. Now, as we were just hearing, it's really not clear at at the moment what the timeline is for Israel's operation. It's saying it will do whatever it takes. The implication of that is that this could also involve a limited ground invasion, at least.

We know that there are something like two entire Israeli military divisions that are now in the north of the country that could be involved in further operations. At the moment, the focus is on aerial bombardment.

Yeah, it's an interesting point, that point about escalation, which we've been hearing the EU Foreign Affairs Chief has talked about escalation being extremely dangerous. Antonio Guterresh saying he doesn't want Lebanon to become another Gaza. What do we think the next step might be and how much is the Israeli government listening to what's being said around the world, which are looking at what's happening in Lebanon?

I think the aerial campaign will continue as long as Israel thinks it's useful. We saw something similar in Gaza. It's much more risky to send in ground troops, and Israel has this powerful Air Force that it can use. We saw a lot of targets being hit in the south of Lebanon and also in the east, in the Beccar Valley. Earlier today, I could still hear the roar of fighter jets going over our heads here, even though we're some distance away from the Lebanon border. Now, there was an Israeli official who was, in fact, a few Israeli officials who are being quoted in the media as saying that the idea here is to push Hezbollah towards solution. The real question is whether Hezbollah would accept that. It's been such a humiliating, difficult week for Hezbollah, that that would be very difficult for it. Fighting against Israel is really something that goes back to the days of its foundation. It's written into its DNA.

Ghilandanael in Jerusalem. Thank you.