Israel has warned residents to leave Beirut's southern suburbs, including Hezbollah-controlled areas, prompting an exodus from a swathe of the capital, which a far-right Israeli minister said would soon resemble parts of Gaza.
Suggesting a major escalation looms in Israel's offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah, an Israeli military spokesperson told residents of the southern suburbs to move east and north, posting a map showing four large districts of the capital that he said they must leave.
Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East on Monday, when Hezbollah opened fire, sparking Israeli airstrikes focused on the southern suburbs, and on southern and eastern Lebanon.
"Save your lives, evacuate your homes immediately," the military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted on X, saying that any movement southwards may endanger their lives.
Roads out of the suburbs were clogged as people fled by car and on foot, television footage showed.
Gunfire was heard in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, warning residents to leave.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a video on X from near the Lebanon border, in which he said that Dahiyeh would soon resemble parts of Gaza, where Israel's two-year military campaign against Hezbollah's ally Hamas has left much of the territory in ruins.
"The Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis. Our northern residents will soon live in quiet, peace and security," said Smotrich, who sits on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet.
The area highlighted in the Israeli military map includes neighbourhoods controlled by Hezbollah but also spreads into adjoining ones.
While Israel has previously ordered people to leave buildings in Dahiyeh, it is the first time it has instructed residents of the entire area to leave.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that the Israeli military's call for residents of vast areas of southern Lebanon to evacuate raised "serious risks of violations of the laws of war".
"Calling on everyone who lives south of the Litani (River) to evacuate immediately raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags and fears for the safety of civilians," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW.
"How are older people, the sick and people with disabilities going to be able to evacuate immediately? And how will their safety be guaranteed as they leave?" he said in a statement from the rights group.
HRW said "the sweeping nature" of Israel's call raised "concerns that their purpose is not to protect civilians", adding that the area was home to hundreds of thousands of people.
The evacuation call "raises serious risks of violations of the laws of war", it added.
Hundreds of displaced people gathered in downtown Beirut near the sea.
Many, including women and children, could be seen wearing backpacks.
A car drove past with mattresses and blankets strapped to the roof, a Reuters reporter said.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military ordered residents to leave an area of southern Lebanon amounting to about 8% of its territory.
Nearly all outgoing and incoming flights to Beirut airport, which is adjacent to the zone identified by the Israeli military, were cancelled for both Thursday evening and Friday.
Some residents of Beirut's southern suburbs told Reuters that they had received calls from European numbers playing a recorded message from someone identifying themselves as a member of the Israeli military and telling them to leave their homes.
Beirut's predominantly Shia Muslim southern suburbs are among the capital's most densely populated areas.
The area was pounded by Israeli airstrikes during a war with Hezbollah in 2024, and during a previous war with Israel in 2006.
Israeli bombardment and warnings have already forced tens of thousands of Lebanese to flee homes in the southern suburbs and the south this week.
The Lebanese health ministry said 102 people have been killed in Israeli attacks. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Unicef, the UN children's agency, said on Wednesday that seven children had been killed.
There have been no reports of fatalities in Israel as a result of Hezbollah attacks.
