Humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council said the number of displaced people now represents roughly one in seven residents of Lebanon. The government has so far been able to accommodate only about 120,000 people in shelters as authorities scramble to open additional facilities and bring in emergency supplies.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 700 people, including 103 children, have been killed since the fighting escalated.

Thousands of families fleeing Israeli evacuation orders have struggled to find accommodation, forcing many to sleep in tents, vehicles or on the streets of the capital Beirut.

Fatima Nazha, a wheelchair user who fled Beirut’s southern suburbs after evacuation warnings, said she spent two days sleeping outdoors with her family before moving into a tent at the country’s largest stadium after schools designated as shelters reached capacity.

Authorities have converted the stadium into a temporary shelter housing more than 800 displaced people in semi-open corridors beneath the stands. Facilities include basic toilets and sinks but limited electricity and no showers.

Humanitarian agencies say years of financial strain and underfunding have limited their ability to respond to the rapidly escalating crisis.

“The needs are escalating much faster than our capacity to respond,” said Mathieu Luciano, head of the International Organization for Migration in Lebanon, during a recent briefing.

Displaced residents have reported rising rents and stricter hotel screening in Beirut after Israeli strikes targeted locations where authorities said members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were present.

An overnight Israeli strike in the Ramlet el-Bayda district of Beirut killed at least eight people and wounded more than 30, according to local officials, in an area where displaced families had been camping along the seafront.

The latest wave of displacement began after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the wider regional war.

Israel subsequently intensified air strikes across Lebanon and issued evacuation notices for dozens of villages south of the Litani River, later expanding warnings to residents of Dahiyeh, a densely populated area on Beirut’s southern edge.

Traffic congestion stretched for miles on major highways leading north from southern Lebanon as residents attempted to flee bombardment.

Along the border, some villages remained briefly populated as residents weighed whether to evacuate, but many ultimately fled after continued strikes and drone activity near the United Nations-monitored Blue Line separating the two countries.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military did not immediately comment when asked about the Hezbollah statement.

Hezbollah said the clash occurred after Israeli forces conducted an airborne operation in eastern Lebanon, an area where the group maintains a presence. The statement did not provide further details on the scale of the raid or whether there were casualties.

The reported raid comes amid intensifying hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which have exchanged attacks since the conflict escalated last week. The war marks one of the most serious confrontations between Israel and the Lebanese armed group in years.

Israeli officials have said the military campaign is aimed at weakening Hezbollah’s operational and financial capabilities.

Separately, the Israeli military said it planned to strike a financial body associated with Hezbollah, according to a statement, underscoring Israel’s effort to disrupt the group’s funding channels as the fighting continues.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran and one of the most heavily armed non-state groups in the Middle East, has long maintained military infrastructure across parts of Lebanon, including areas close to the Israeli border.

The warning came as fighting intensified following a U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran that began on Feb. 28, prompting Israeli evacuation orders across southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut. The developments have triggered significant population movements both within Lebanon and across its borders, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).Mass displacement across LebanonAyaki Ito, the UNHCR’s Director of Emergency and Programme Support, said the agency had formally classified the unfolding situation as a major humanitarian emergency requiring urgent international response.“UNHCR has declared the escalating crisis in the Middle East as a major humanitarian emergency requiring an immediate response across the region and into Southeast Asia,” Ito told a press briefing in Geneva.According to UNHCR estimates, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced inside Lebanon as Israeli evacuation orders and ongoing hostilities forced residents to leave their homes. Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who had previously sought safety in Lebanon have also returned across the border into Syria amid growing insecurity.The agency said the pace and scale of displacement remained fluid and warned that available figures were likely an underestimate because population movements were continuing and many families had not yet been formally registered.

Displacement reported inside IranUNHCR officials also reported early signs of internal displacement in Iran linked to the same conflict dynamics.Ito said roughly 100,000 people had already been displaced inside Iran in the first days of the conflict. UNHCR staff operating in the country have been receiving hundreds of calls each day from people seeking assistance or information on humanitarian support.The agency did not provide details on the precise locations of displacement but said the scale of requests for help indicated that the humanitarian impact of the conflict was expanding rapidly.UN calls for urgent responseUNHCR said the emergency classification allows it to mobilize additional resources, staff and operational capacity to respond to the growing humanitarian needs.Officials warned that the crisis could spread beyond the immediate conflict zone as displacement pressures increase across neighbouring countries already hosting large refugee populations.The agency urged international donors and humanitarian partners to prepare for a sustained response as the conflict continues to drive population movements across the Middle East.