Exchanges of fire continued in the past 24 hours with heightened intensity throughout the UNIFIL area of operation. Hezbollah fired rockets in significantly larger numbers from various locations. The IDF intensified shelling and aerial bombardment across the south. The IDF has maintained their presence and continues to operate inside Lebanese territory in different areas. It substantially reinforced the number of troops in the general areas of Sarda and Deir Mimess in the eastern sector. From this location, they advanced during last night and this morning to the north. Intensive shelling, bombardment, rocket firing, and ground exchanges were reported. Read more about As fighting intensifies in Lebanon, UN mission sustains damage but no casualties 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is working “very intensely” with Security Council members and key leaders to push for a resolution concerning the situation along the Blue Line separating Israel from Lebanon. A spokesman for Annan issued a statement in New York saying the diplomacy is taking place “both here and in capitals.” The statement also reiterated Annan’s long-standing call for a cessation of hostilities. “The fighting must stop to save civilians on both sides from the nightmare they have endured for the past four weeks.” The spokesman voiced Annan’s conviction that the Security Council should be able to adopt a resolution by the end of the week. Read more about Annan pushes for Security Council resolution on Israel-Lebanon violence 

According to the Higher Relief Committee (HRC) of the Government of Lebanon, 1,020 people have been killed and 3,508 injured. The number of displaced currently stands at 915,000 (45 percent are children). Most internally displaced persons (IDPs) are located in South Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Chouf, and Aaley, and others are located in and around Bekaa and northern Lebanon. Although some IDPs remain in the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon in southern Lebanon, few people remain in southern Lebanese villages, and many who initially moved to southern cities have now fled further north. Read more about UN agencies: 1,020 killed; 915,000 displaced 

A Christian Aid partner in Lebanon has suspended work in a nursery it runs for Palestinian refugees after an Israeli missile attack last night. According to media reports, Lebanese and Palestinian officials said an Israeli gunship shelled the Ein el-Hilweh camp on the outskirts of the town of Sidon, south of the capital Beirut, killing at least one person. The Israeli military said the attack was an air strike that targeted a house in the camp used by Hezbollah guerrillas. Ein el-Hilweh is the largest of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps and is home to about 75,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Read more about Najdeh closes Lebanon nursery after Israeli attack on Ein Hilweh camp 

The Government of Lebanese’s (GoL) Government Higher Relief Committee (HRC) have reported that 1,020 people, 192 deaths more than at the same time last week, have been killed and 3,508 injured in the conflict to date. Information on the general displaced population from the HRC essentially remains static (960,000 displaced overall with some 700,000 still located in Lebanon). In the South, local authorities have estimated that 130,000 remain, including residents and IDPs in the Tyre area; 40,000 Palestinians in the Tyre refugee camp; and another 25,000 people along the border/Blue Line. Read more about OCHA: 1,020 Lebanese dead; 3,508 injured; 960,000 displaced 

Called up to serve in the conflict against Hezbollah, reserve soldier Israeli Tom Mehagel decided he couldn’t fight. “I don’t believe that Hezbollah has any goal but destroying Israel,” the artillery staff sergeant told IRIN. “But we shouldn’t use our force against civilians.” Mehagel is one of a small group of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reservists who have refused to fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon because they don’t think it is right. Soldiers in Israel who refuse to fight are known as ‘refuseniks’. Using disproportionate force, including attacks against civilians, is a violation of international humanitarian law. Read more about 'Refuseniks' say they won't attack civilians 

As explosions from an Israeli bombardment blew open the doors of her apartment and sent her two terrified daughters scrambling into her arms, Fatima Abbas explained why she had moved back home to Tyre in south Lebanon from the relative safety of the mountains near Sidon. “I wanted to come back from the first day we arrived in Ketermaya,” said the young mother, explaining her decision to leave the mountain town 20km northeast of Sidon, to which she had fled on the first day of the war between Israel and the armed wing of Lebanese political party Hezbollah. Read more about Families return to Tyre amid ongoing bombardments 

Relief workers are struggling to cater to the needs of increasing numbers of displaced people arriving in Sidon, a port city 40km south of Beirut. “People arrive here with only the clothes on their backs,” said Sheikh Khalil al-Solh, a member of local charity group The Islamic Gathering. “They have no money, no jobs and when they arrive they do not even have mats to sleep on. We’ve been able to absorb the displaced since the beginning of the calamity, but the moment Sidon is hit, there will be a catastrophe.” According to the Lebanese Higher Relief Council, a government body set up specifically to manage relief efforts during this conflict, some 50,000 displaced people have fled to Sidon. Read more about Shelters at maximum capacity in Sidon, charity says 

With a quarter of Lebanon’s population forced to flee their homes and violence claiming lives daily in the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the worsening situation in the war-ravaged country. The President of the Council decided to convene the special session in response to a request from Tunisia on behalf of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which was supported in total by 16 Member States, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press release today. Read more about UN Human Rights Council to hold special session on Friday to discuss Lebanon 

Seeking to help ease the plight of thousands of civilians who have fled fighting in Lebanon for Syria, United Nations agencies are rushing aid to the country as part of the overall effort to assist civilians caught in the crossfire of the Middle East conflict. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has focused its attention on the youngest victims, organizing immunization campaigns to protect them from diseases such as polio, mumps, measles, rubella and meningitis. The agency has also provided 150,000 capsules of vitamin A to be distributed to all affected children in a bid to boost their immune system. Read more about UN agencies rush aid to help Lebanese and others who have fled to Syria