A MASSIVE wave of Israeli air strikes hit southern and central Lebanon today, killing at least 51 people and injuring 223, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The attacks took place hours after Hezbollah had fired dozens of missiles into Israel, including one aimed at Tel Aviv.

The strike on Israel’s most populous city was Hezbollah’s deepest yet and marked the latest round of increasingly violent exchanges between the two forces.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted the surface-to-surface missile, which set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage. 

A wave of Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday killed at least 560 people in Lebanon and forced thousands to seek refuge.

The United Nations said today that more than 90,000 people have been displaced over five days of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.

Fleeing families have flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach. Some sought to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.

After fleeing the southern village of Qsaibah, Souad Mahde told Al Jazeera from a shelter: “Our way out was very slow. The traffic was horrible. It was really hard. We moved for a bit and stopped for a bit. There were strikes here and there until we reached Beirut. It took us until evening.

“Even in Beirut, there is an atmosphere of war. Of course, we are in a war.”

Hezbollah said it had fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it blames for a recent string of targeted killings of its top commanders and for an attack last week in which explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of people and wounded thousands.

The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from Lebanon had reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an intelligence base near Tel Aviv last month in an aerial attack. 

Although the Israeli military has said there are no immediate plans for a ground invasion, it announced today that military reservists are being called up.

Ahead of an emergency meeting of United Nations security council last night, the UN High Commission for Refugees in Lebanon said in a post on the X social media platform that it was worried about ongoing tensions in the country, but it was “committed to standing by Lebanon during this critical time.”