Live Updates: Israel Sends More Troops to Fight Hezbollah in Lebanon

The deployments and bombardment show how the fighting has widened sharply a year after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others were taken hostage.

In addition to its invasions of Lebanon and Gaza — where more than 40,000 people have been killed — Israel has also conducted airstrikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen in recent days, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against Iran for its missile and drone attack on his country last Tuesday.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, began firing missiles and rockets across Israel’s northern border roughly a year ago in support of Hamas, and a conflict between the two had simmered for months. But Israel expanded its campaign last month with a wave of bombardments and assassinations, and started a ground invasion last week.

In Gaza, Israel says that Hamas’s main fighting units have largely been destroyed, but it has continued its operations, seeking to eradicate any threat posed by the group and prevent it from reconstituting its forces.

As Hamas launched rockets, multiple loud explosions were heard over Tel Aviv on Monday and air raid sirens could be heard across Jaffa, where seven people were killed last week in a shooting attack by the military wing of Hamas. Hamas said in a statement on social media that its military wing had “targeted the depths of the occupation” in Tel Aviv.

The announcement of the meeting comes as the world awaits an expected Israeli attack on Iran in retaliation for a barrage of Iranian missiles fired at Israel last week.

Mr. Tenenti said the Israeli military had asked UNIFIL to relocate its personnel as it was invading southern Lebanon, but the U.N. mission declined to do so.

“We were notified by the I.D.F. of a limited incursion,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. “We are still here, we have not moved.”

Satellite images taken on Saturday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, and obtained by The Times show around 20 Israeli military vehicles at three new positions established this week around the U.N. mission. The Times is withholding the imagery for security reasons.

“This is a concern for the mission and is something that’s being discussed right now with the I.D.F. and at U.N. headquarters,” Mr. Tenenti said.

An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive military and political context confirmed the I.D.F.’s presence near the UNIFIL base.

Asked why it established military positions beside the U.N. base and not further away, the official said it was because the position offered convenient roads and other infrastructure, and because Hezbollah was launching rockets from next to the peacekeeping base with impunity.

“We understand that weapons are in the area,” Mr. Tenenti, the U.N. spokesman, said of nearby Hezbollah rocket sites. “But at this point we need to find viable solutions. Our priority is to go back to a cessation of hostilities. The conflict could stop if there is a commitment from both parties.”

The Israeli military official said he did not know if the I.D.F. planned to move its position, but the goal was not to stay near the U.N. base indefinitely.

Israel is conducting a multipronged invasion of southern Lebanon from two areas in northern Israel as it scales up attacks on Hezbollah in an effort to stop its cross-border rocket launches and enable the return of 60,000 Israelis to their homes in the north of Israel.

UNIFIL was first established to observe Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in the late 1970s and maintain the peace along the de facto border. Since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the peacekeeping mission has monitored and reported on violations of the cross-border truce.

“Before October 2023, the south of Lebanon had the most stable period since 2006,” Mr. Tenenti said.

Euan Ward contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

One of them is Hala Bassam Al-Akhsam, better known as Chef Hala, a Gazan TV and social media personality with 20,000 followers on TikTok. Ms. Al-Akhsam has evacuated from her home in Gaza City three times since Israel invaded Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack last Oct. 7, so she has plenty of experience.

In a recent post, she advised Lebanese evacuees to start with a lightweight pouch for valuables and important documents — gold, cash, diplomas and birth certificates. Make one member of the family responsible for holding onto it at all times. Everyone should have their own small bag of clothes, books, hygiene products and a reusable water bottle. And make sure everyone has a coat, she says, because “winter is coming.”

Once a prolific poster of cooking hacks and recipes, Ms. Al-Akhsam now uploads scenes of the war’s devastation alongside practical advice for staying safe and sane amid chaos. “Have a predetermined safe location in mind,” she said. “A house or an area to move to, without losing time deciding.”

Israeli airstrikes, raids and evacuation warnings have sent hundreds of thousands of Lebanese fleeing their homes, with no certainty of when they would be able to return or what might remain when they do. For the uprooted and those who soon might be, Ms. Al-Akhsam’s displacement tutorials have become a source of solace and solidarity.

Lebanese viewers have reached out with thanks on public forums, and private requests for more specific advice. In one recent video, she obliged with a packing list of essential medicines. “I have faced starvation, famine, and extreme pollution,” Ms. Al-Akhsam explained in an interview. “My struggle throughout this war has inspired me to share with the people of Lebanon what to expect.”

Ms. Al-Akhsam, 36, said she started the tutorials when she first heard that Lebanese, too, were being displaced by Israeli airstrikes. “I really wish someone had explained to me what to do when I first evacuated,” she said. “I didn’t realize what I would need. Once you leave your house, you never know how long you’ll be away. A day? Two days? A month?”

Some Gazans who have used social media to speak to the people of Lebanon focus on solidarity, others on grief. A few have expressed regret that those in Lebanon seem to be paying the price for the support of Hamas by Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group.

Mahmoud Abusalama, a 35-year-old landscape photographer turned war reporter from Jabaliya in Gaza, urged his Lebanese viewers on Instagram to record their experiences. “Documentation is crucial for preserving truth,” he said in a recent post, “especially amid the ongoing war.” Before the war, he sought to capture what he described as “the beauty of Gaza.” Now, his posts are full of bloodshed and destruction.

Mr. Abusalama has been evacuated twice, and he has just one thing to say to those who haven’t fled yet: Don’t. “Displacement is humiliating,” he said. As Israel’s invasion pushes on, many in Lebanon may feel they have no choice but to ignore that advice.

“In preparation for a new stage in the war, the army is publishing a new evacuation zones map,” read an image posted on the X account of Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman.

The post looked similar to evacuation orders that the military has issued in the past, and was interpreted as such by some people.

The title of the accompanying map refers to “new evacuation zones,” with two lines highlighting routes to central Gaza. But the language in the post was contradictory and unclear as to whether the zones would be enforced now or in the future, “as necessary.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be in northern Gaza, and Israel has prevented displaced people in other parts of the territory from returning there.

Mr. Adraee said later in the day that the announcement was intended only to lay the groundwork for any future evacuation of the north.

Reached by phone, he said that the military hadn’t issued new evacuation orders and that the map merely divided northern Gaza into new blocks that Israel could call on to evacuate in the future.

That was little consolation to some people from northern Gaza, who were uncertain of whether they should leave their homes.

Israel first invaded northern Gaza after weeks of carrying out an intense aerial assault on the enclave in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks. Since then, it has withdrawn to nearby posts and focused its efforts on other parts of the enclave — only to return again for new operations against Hamas, which has regrouped in its absence. That cycle has repeated, leaving civilians caught in the crossfire in perilous conditions.

Kamel Ajour, 52, a bakery owner in Gaza City, noted that previous evacuation orders had specifically said people needed to leave the area immediately.

“The map is dubious,” he said. “It’s confusing for people.”

Others in Gaza felt similarly. “It’s not clear what it is asking people to do now,” said Yahya al-Masri, 28, who has family in Gaza City.