Some 345 people have died in the country and an estimated half a million people have fled their homes over the past 10 days since Israel attacked following the abduction by Hizbollah of two of its soldiers in a cross-bordder raid.

Matthias Burchard of the UNRWA relief agency for Palestinians in the region said Israeli planes were targetting roads from Syria, sparking concern that supply routes would be cut off.

In Lebanon, he said, UNRWA had opened up the clinics and schools that it runs to shelter about 3,000 Lebanese and Palestinians who had fled from the south.