For almost a week, ophthalmologist Elias Jradeh has worked around the clock, trying to keep up with the flood of patients whose eyes were injured when pagers and walkie-talkies exploded en masse across Lebanon.

He has lost track of how many eye operations he has performed in multiple hospitals, surviving on two hours of sleep before starting on the next operation. He has managed to save some patients' sight, but many will never see again.

China urged Monday its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating.

Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or otherwise leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety, the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat.

Israel and Hezbollah have threatened to escalate their cross-border attacks despite a chorus of international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after intense rocket fire from Lebanon that Israel has dealt "a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined".

Dozens of Israeli air strikes hit Lebanon's south and east Monday, killing at least one civilian, official media reported, as Israel's military warned Lebanese to move away from Hezbollah targets.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said "enemy warplanes launched... more than 80 air strikes in half an hour", targeting south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh district. It also reported strikes in the Tyre area.

Lebanese official media said Monday people were receiving Israeli phone warnings telling them to evacuate, and Information Minister Ziad Makari's office told AFP it had received one of the calls.

"Citizens in Beirut and a number of areas are receiving landline telephone warning messages whose source is the Israeli enemy, asking them to quickly evacuate where they are," the Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said.

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed in separate Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday, as Israel said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

In separate statements, the health ministry said one person was killed in Israeli strikes in three different south Lebanon villages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had "landed a series of blows on Hezbollah" after a night of intense cross-border fire and attacks this week in Lebanon.

"In recent days, we have landed a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I assure you it will get the message," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The Israeli defense minister says the steps taken against Hezbollah will continue until residents of Israel’s north can return to their homes, saying "we will do everything necessary to achieve it.”

Yoav Gallant was on a visit to the command and control center of the Israeli Air Force when he said Hezbollah “has started to sense some of the capabilities" of the Israeli army and that Hezbollah is now feeling "persecuted, and we are seeing the results.”

The U.S. State Department has urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial options remain available, as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah flares.

"Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available," the State Department said in an updated advisory.

Germany has said there is an "urgent need" for measures to calm tensions in the Middle East as Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza threatened to spread to Lebanon.

Attacks carried out by Israel or blamed on it, including air strikes and the explosions of hand-held communications devices, have killed dozens and injured thousands in Lebanon since Tuesday.