ROME, Sept 29, 2024 (AFP) - The World Food Programme on Sunday said it had launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the escalating conflict in Lebanon.

"A further acceleration of the conflict this weekend underscored the need for an immediate humanitarian response," the Rome-based agency said in a statement, announcing that it was distributing ready-to-eat food rations, bread, hot meals and food parcels to shelters across the country.

Israel on Sunday said that it was carrying out new air strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, two days after killing the Iran-backed group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in bombing raids outside Beirut.

His killing marked a sharp escalation in nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the latter's Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The bombing in Lebanon is "compounding the fragility of a population burdened by accumulated crises", the WFP said.

"In just a few days, WFP assistance has reached thousands of newly displaced people," the programme's country director for Lebanon, Matthew Hollingworth, said in the statement.

"As the crisis deepens, we are preparing to assist up to one million people through a mix of cash and food support," he added, calling on the international community to mobilise $105 million to fund the operation through to the end of the year.

"Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another war," said WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer.