50 killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon

Lebanon said 50 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in Israeli strikes on the south on Monday, the heaviest daily toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

"Continued Israeli enemy raids on southern towns and villages... killed 50 people and wounded more than 300, with children, women and emergency workers among the dead and wounded," a health ministry statement said, adding that the toll was provisional.

Earlier, the Israeli military told people in Lebanon to move away from Hezbollah targets and vowed to carry out more "extensive and precise" strikes against the Iran-backed group.

"We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm's way for their own safety," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a media briefing, in a rare appeal made by the Israeli military to the people of Lebanon.

"The IDF (military) will engage in (more) extensive and precise strikes against terror targets which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon."

Hagari said the military had launched new strikes against Hezbollah sites since Monday morning.

"The strikes will go on for the near future," he said.