Nearly 500 people have been killed in the latest round of air strikes on Lebanon.

The Israeli military says it’s urged citizens living in the region to evacuate while it targets Hezbollah assets in the southern and eastern areas of Lebanon.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has estimated that nearly 500 people, including dozens of women and children, were killed as a result, as Israel claims Hezbollah’s weapons were stored in the evacuated areas.

Israel says it had hit more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets as a result of the wide-scale attack.

On top of the staggering death toll, the Lebanese Health Ministry says more than 1,200 people were wounded in the strikes as well.

Authorities are also reporting that thousands of people fled south, jamming the main highway to Beirut in the region’s most significant exodus since 2006.

The latest attack comes after Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets into northern Israel, the death of a Hezbollah commander and the widespread explosions of communication devices used by the Iran-backed militants.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintains his war is not on the citizens, and his military is changing the “balance of power” on the northern front.

“We have no disputes about territory resources with Lebanon,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations said.

“It’s only because Hezbollah wanted to show sympathy and solidarity with Hamas and they decided to start this war against Israel. If the Lebanese government was capable of telling them enough, stop the fighting today, we will stop immediately. We have no desire to get engaged today in another war in Lebanon.”

In the wake of the attack, the federal NDP called on the Liberal government to recognize Palestinian statehood, claiming that a conservative government would not do so.

The Conservatives say they’d support Israel’s defence against Hezbollah and Hamas.