Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel - August 25, 2024

Residents in Tel Aviv are taking some precautions following the exchange of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah on Sunday morning along the Israel-Lebanon border, which marked a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between the two sides.

Hezbollah announced it had launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported conducting numerous preemptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.

During an emergency national security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the destruction of thousands of Hezbollah rockets.

Despite intense morning clashes, fighting has largely subsided since Sunday afternoon. However, Netanyahu warned that the Israeli airstrikes are "not the end of the story," adding that Israeli forces will "strike Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows."

After Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour nationwide emergency. Educational activities and workplaces may continue if shelter is available, but outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people, and indoor gatherings to 300. Beaches near the Lebanon border are closed.

In a vlog, China Global Television Network (CGTN) correspondent Jonathan Regev shared that fewer people are participating in outdoor activities than usual.

Shotlist:
Tel Aviv, Israel - Aug 25, 2024:
FILE: Israel - Nov 1, 2022
1. Various of Israeli Parliament Knesset, national flag of Israel;
FILE: Tel Aviv, Israel - April 7-8, 2019
2. Various of buildings, traffic;
Tel Aviv, Israel - Aug 25, 2024
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Regev, reporter, China Global Television Network (CGTN) (partially overlaid with shot 4):
"This is the main playground of the Tel Aviv Port, one of the biggest outdoor recreational centers in the Tel Aviv area. As you can see there are people, but this place is far from being packed with children. As perhaps you can expect, on the first day of the last week of the school summer vacation on a regular late August afternoon, this place would be packed with our children. It's not happening this time and it showcases perhaps the confusion that is part of the lives of the residents of central Israel on this day. It's a morning that has started with a feeling that a major escalation is on Israel's doorstep and rockets may be heading to central Israel from Lebanon as well. These were also the instructions of the home front command in the early morning hours, telling people to stay mostly indoors and refrain from major activities outside. The instructions later changed allowing activities outside. No major restrictions for the residents of central Israel. But still, some confusion. People are not sure whether to stay indoors or be outside. So this is the situation here. Yes, there are people. Yes, there are shops open, restaurants and so on. And people are here outside, but these aren't the regular numbers we usually would see here on a late August afternoon -- far from being so.";
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
4. Playground visitors;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
Lebanon - Aug 25, 2024
5. Various of blasts, dense smoke.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]