Israel orders Lebanese villagers to flee; hits Hezbollah, Hamas leaders in Beirut, West Bank

Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders early Friday for 35 settlements in southern Lebanon telling residents to leave immediately and head north of the Awali River for "your own safety" and warning them not to move southward under any circumstances.

In a post on X , Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah 's activities left it no choice but to resort to force but that it did not wish to hurt civilians.

"The IDF does not intend to harm you, so for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Awali River. Save your lives," IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote.

"Anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, installations, and combat equipment is putting his life at risk. Any house used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted .Be careful, you must not go south. Any southward movement may put you in danger.We will let you know when it is safe to return home."

The evacuation orders came less than two hours hour the IDF reported two barrages of rockets from southern Lebanon within the space of 30 minutes targeting western Galilee and the coastal Haifa area across the border inside Israel.

"Following the air raid warnings that were activated in the Western Galilee and the [Haifa] Gulf at 07:01-07:04, about 20 launches were detected that crossed from the territory of Lebanon. Most of the launches were intercepted by the Air Force, the rest fell in an open area," the IDF said in a social media post .

It added that following fresh alerts that were activated in the Upper Galilee area about 20 minutes later additional launches were detected crossing from Lebanon, some of which were "successfully intercepted" and those that got through landed in uninhabited areas.

Overnight, Israel carried out major airstrikes in the north of the West Bank that it said killed Zahi Ofi , the leader of Hamas in the city of Tulkarm and "other prominent leaders in the network" and intensified strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut with American media reporting they were trying to take out Hashem Safieddine , who was set to take over as leader of the group from Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an airstrike Sept. 27.

The fate of Safieddine is not yet known, according to CNN, The New York Times and other outlets.

The BBC reported that the West Bank airstrikes killed 18 people , citing Palestinian news sources as saying one strike hit a cafe in the Tulkarm refugee camp with many civilians inside, and quoted Lebanon's health ministry as saying Israeli air and ground attacks in the past 24 hours had killed at least 37 people and injured 151, bringing the death toll since Israel began its airborne campaign Sept. 23 to more than 1,300.

The United Nations Refugee Agency said airstrikes early Friday had also targeted the main Masnaa/Jdaidet Yabous border crossing from Lebanon to Syria that people had been using to flee the fighting, closing it.

UNHCR said it was "extremely concerned" that an escape route used by more than 17,000 people on Wednesday alone, one of only four official useable crossings, was no longer an option.

Footage circulating online of the Masnaa crossing shows a massive blast crater in the road.

Israel accused Hezbollah on Thursday of using the crossing to run military equipment into Lebanon and threatened the use of force if the Lebanese government didn't act to stop the flow.

"The IDF will not allow the smuggling of these weapons and will not hesitate to act if forced to do so, as it has done throughout this war," it said on social media.

"Hezbollah has turned the transfer of weapons into a civilian crossing, endangering the citizens of the State of Lebanon and their interests.

"The Lebanese State is responsible for its official border crossings and is able to prevent Hezbollah from passing through these crossings. The IDF urges the State of Lebanon to conduct strict inspections of trucks passing through civilian crossings and to return trucks and vehicles containing combat equipment to Syria," said the IDF.