Lebanese health authorities confirmed six dead and 91 wounded in the initial attack on Friday — the fourth on Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs in a week and the heaviest since a 2006 war.

The toll appeared likely to rise much higher. There was no word on casualties from the later strikes. More than 700 people were killed in strikes over the past week, authorities said.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported seven buildings were destroyed.

Hours later, the Israeli military told residents in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as it targeted missile launchers and weapons storage sites it claimed were under civilian housing.

Hezbollah denied any weapons or arms depots were located in buildings that were hit in the Beirut suburbs, the group’s media office said in a statement.

Alaa al-Din Saeed, a resident of a neighbourhood that Israel identified as a target, told Reuters that he was fleeing with his wife and three children.

“We found out on the television. There was a huge commotion in the neighbourhood,” he said. The family grabbed clothes, identification papers and some cash but were stuck in traffic with others trying to flee.

“We’re going to the mountains. We’ll see how to spend the night - and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”

Around 100,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced this week, increasing the number uprooted in the country to well over 200,000.

Fears the fighting will spread

Hours before the latest barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations that his country had a right to continue the campaign.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” he said.

Several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern. He later cut short his New York trip to return to Israel.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles against targets in Israel, including Tel Aviv.

The group said it fired rockets on Friday at the northern Israeli city of Safed, where a woman was treated for minor injuries.

At the UN, where the annual General Assembly met this week, the intensification prompted expressions of concern including by France, which with the US has proposed a 21-day ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a New York press conference: “We believe the way forward is through diplomacy, not conflict… We will continue to work intentionally with all parties to urge them to choose that course.”