Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon on Tuesday it could face destruction "like Gaza" as Israel ramps up its ground offensive against Hezbollah along the southern section of the Lebanese coast.
Netanyahu's stark warning came as the Israeli military deployed more troops and urged civilians in coastal areas to evacuate.
"You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza," Netanyahu said in a video address directed to the people of Lebanon.
"I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end."
Hezbollah earlier said it fired rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa, after the Israeli military reported 85 projectiles crossing from Lebanon.
Israel has vowed to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah's cross-border fire to return home.
Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group would make it impossible for Israelis to return to the north.
Israel launched a wave of strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 23, leaving at least 1,150 people dead since then and forcing more than a million people to flee.
Israeli attacks have mainly targeted Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.
While the coast has not been spared, Israel's latest evacuation warning suggests it is extending its offensive northwards.
The Israeli military said it hit Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah's deputy leader said despite Israel's "painful" strikes, the group's leadership structure was in order and its military capabilities were "fine".
A year since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and nearly all its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once.
A view shows a damaged site in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, Tuesday.
