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Israel says an airstrike in Beirut today has killed a senior Hezbollah commander. This comes just a day after a wave of airstrikes killed about 500 people in areas where support is strongest for the militant group. It was the deadliest day in Lebanon in more than 40 years of intermittent conflict. Thousands of Lebanese people who fled airstrikes in the south are arriving in Beirut and searching for shelter. NPR's Jane Arraf met some of them.

(SOUNDBITE OF BABY CRYING)

JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: It was supposed to be the first day of school in Beirut, but at the Al Amlieh school, instead of lessons, there are displaced families sitting outside and laundry hanging out the classroom windows. The Lebanese government ordered all schools closed after Monday's devastating airstrikes and asked some of them to host the displaced.

ABU ALI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: The adults sit in plastic chairs, still trying to absorb the shock of the airstrikes, thinking of the homes many of them lost in an instant. Abu Ali has his arm bandaged after being hit by shrapnel a month ago.

UM ALI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: His wife, Um Ali, bundled 10 people into their car and joined the thousands of people fleeing the south. Neither want to give their full names because they're worried about security.

UM ALI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: Their 12-year-old daughter hasn't spoken much since then, and she isn't sleeping.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: "They destroyed our neighborhood," she says quietly. She says she's OK, but then she hides her face in her mother's shoulder and starts to cry. Her baby brother cries, too.

Um Ali says 18 houses in their neighborhood were demolished in the airstrikes. But they're among the lucky ones. More than 500 people were killed in the attacks Monday - Hezbollah fighters Israel says it was targeting but also civilians, children, women, entire families in some places.

UM ALI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: The couple says they had a nice life in the south of Lebanon, a simple life.

UM ALI: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: "I plant everything around the house and raise a few sheep," says Um Ali.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: The school director, Mohammad Hawila, takes us inside to show us around.

So we're in a hallway, and this is - the school would be normally filled with kindergarten students on this floor. There are colorful pictures on the walls and cartoon characters. Some of the desks are stacked up because they've turned all of the classrooms into temporary shelters for families.

There are more than 600 people staying here. And while we're there, three more displaced families come and are told to try another school. Two sisters from the border town of Nabatieh sit on a low wall. The younger is 18, her nails recently manicured in a bright purple. Her sister, 20, has long, dark hair, carefully styled.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: It's a scary day - literally. (Speaking Arabic).

ARRAF: That's the younger sister. She continues in Arabic, saying there are no words to describe how terrified they were.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Speaking Arabic).

ARRAF: "Every night, the planes would pass by and scare us," says the older one. "There were sonic booms and strikes that were very close." On the long, terrifying drive to Beirut, they recited the Shahada, the Muslim final prayer before death, over and over in case their car was hit. When they reached the southern suburbs of Beirut, Israel was launching airstrikes there too, so they ended up in the city center. Neither wants their name used because they worry about security.

The streets of Beirut are packed with displaced families. And for those who can afford it, so are the hotels. At the reception desk of one hotel, one man asks for five rooms, but only for one night, until they figure out what else to do. Outside, the cafe tables are full of families with plastic bags of snacks.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: (Non-English language spoken).

ARRAF: "The missiles were falling like rain," this woman tells us. She and her sister have been through three wars with Israel, but this one, they say, is the worst.

Jane Arraf, NPR News, Beirut. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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