As a carpenter labors in the sweltering noon heat to complete his melancholy task, his newly made coffins lie stacked up six high and stretch down the hospital courtyard.

Troops are already on the ground in the area and the operation is considered a widening of limited Israeli action in southern Lebanon, not a signal that a full-scale ground invasion has begun.

As families fled Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre, the regional manager of the agency Christian Aid said “the situation on the ground is grim and getting worse.”