At the same time, Israel's bombardment of what is described as Hezbollah strongholds continued during the evening, with the military IDF describing the attacks as "extensive". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech that Israel will continue the attacks, and urged the civilian population to seek shelter.
Our war is not against you, our war is against Hezbollah.
I told you yesterday to evacuate the houses where he (Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah) has placed a robot in the living room and a rocket in the garage. Those who have (it) will no longer have a home, warned the Prime Minister.
Not eager
The country's UN ambassador Danny Danon tried in New York to dampen fears of an invasion.
We have experience from Lebanon before. We are not eager to launch a ground invasion, he said according to AFP, without entirely ruling out an invasion.
We do not want to send our sons to fight in foreign lands, but we are determined to protect Israel's civilian population.
Earlier in the day, dozens of airstrikes were carried out, including in Tyre. In the Bekaa Valley, northeast of Beirut, more than 100 people are reported to have been killed.
In parallel, Hezbollah's attacks against Israel also continued, although without reported fatalities. On Tuesday, 300 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, according to Israel's military. Hezbollah claims to have targeted 18 targets, without specifying the number of rockets used.
A majority of the rockets were shot down, but in cities such as Kiryat Shmona, impacts caused fires, according to the newspaper Haaretz.
The latest day's attacks are described as the deadliest since the Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. The entire war claimed around 2,000 lives.
The vast majority, if not all of those killed in (Monday's) attacks were unarmed and were in their homes, says Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad according to AFP.
More than 50 of the over 550 fatalities were children, according to Lebanese reports. Two employees of the UN refugee agency UNHCR were also killed in Monday's attacks.
