UN refugee agency says 25 percent of Lebanon under Israeli expulsion orders

Israel has issued military expulsion orders affecting more than a quarter of Lebanon, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The figures underscore the heavy price Lebanese are paying as Israel steps up its war on the country.

The UN refugee agency's Middle East Director Rema Jamous Imseis told a press briefing in Geneva that new Israeli orders to 20 villages in southern Lebanon meant that over a quarter of the country was now affected.

"People are heeding these calls to evacuate, and they're fleeing with almost nothing."

Reporting by Reuters