BEIRUT — Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes again Tuesday as the death toll from an Israeli bombardment climbed to nearly 560 people, according to the Lebanese health authority, and thousands fled from southern Lebanon with the two sides on the brink of all-out war.

Displaced families slept in shelters hastily set up in schools at Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. With hotels quickly booked to capacity or rooms priced beyond the means of many families, those who did not find shelter slept in their cars, in parks or along the seaside.

Issa Baydoun fled the village of Shihine in southern Lebanon when it came under bombing and came to Beirut in a convoy of cars with his extended family. They slept in the vehicles on the side of the road after discovering that the shelters were full.

“We struggled a lot on the road just to get here,” he said.

At the eastern city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported that lines formed at bakeries and gas stations as residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies in anticipation of another round of strikes on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the border crossing with Syria saw traffic jams as a result of people escaping to the neighboring country from Lebanon.

The Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah said it launched missiles overnight at eight sites in Israel, including an explosives factory at Zichron, 37 miles from the border. The Israeli military said Tuesday morning that 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting fires and damaging buildings. 

Military officials said they carried out dozens of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, including on a cell that fired rockets overnight, and that tanks and artillery struck targets near the border.

Galilee Medical Center, a northern Israel hospital, said that two patients arrived with minor head injuries from a rocket falling near their car. Several others were being treated for light wounds from running to shelters and traffic accidents when alarms sounded.

The renewed exchange came after Monday’s barrages racked up the highest death toll in any single day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising month-long war in 2006.

Nearly a year of cross-border fire had already emptied out communities near the border, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides. 

Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will keep up its rocket attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly remote.

The Israeli military says it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion but is prepared for one, after moving thousands of troops who had been serving in Gaza to the northern border. It says Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.

The military said Israeli warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets, and attack drones, including weapons concealed in private homes. 

Israel estimates Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Associated Press