'Hezbollah Using You': Netanyahu's 'Human Shield' Warning For Lebanese People As Israeli Strikes Kill 356

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Lebanese citizens that Hezbollah is using them as human shields and that Israel is not at a war with Lebanon or them but with the Iran-backed militant group.

“Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes,” Netanyahu said in a video statement shortly after the Israeli army announced it had struck 800 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

The Israeli strikes killed 356 people, including 24 children, in Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese health minister said, in by far the deadliest cross-border escalation since war erupted in Gaza on October 7.

In his statement to people in Lebanon on Monday, Netanyahu said it was Hezbollah who had endangered their security.

“Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage,” he said.

“Don’t let Hezbollah endanger your lives and the lives of your loved ones.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese citizens in the southern part of the country and Israelis in the northern Israel region fled their apartments for safer locations.

Residents of the northern Israeli city of Haifa ran for shelter as sirens rang out Monday evening. “Sirens sounded in the city of Haifa and surrounding areas, northern Israel,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

Approximately 180 projectiles and one unmanned aerial vehicle crossed into Israeli airspace over the course of the day Monday in various parts of the country’s north, the army reported.

The majority of the projectiles were either intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system or fell in open areas, it said.

Lebanese Flee War

Health workers in southern Lebanon scrambled to treat hundreds of people wounded on Monday, as families rushed to flee the deadliest Israeli strikes in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

In the southern city of Sidon, there were traffic jams on the main highway to Beirut, as families fled the strikes in cars and vans.

Some of the areas hit on Monday had largely been spared from the near-daily cross-border violence that began when Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the Gaza war.

Lebanon’s education ministry said all educational institutions would shut for two days.

Biden Urges Restraint

President Joe Biden said on Monday that the United States was trying to calm the situation in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds killed at least 274 people, including children.

“I’ve been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” Biden said as he held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.

US Moves Troops

The United States is sending a “small number” of additional troops to the Middle East in response to rising tensions in the region, the Pentagon said, giving few further details.

The announcement comes as fears of a broader regional war grow, with Israel striking hundreds of targets in Lebanon in what is by far the deadliest cross-border escalation in nearly a year of violence between Israel and Hezbollah.