BEIRUT (CNN) — Israeli bombing in Lebanon during the past week has crippled the country’s economy, reversing what had promised to be a boom year, the nation’s finance minister said Thursday.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said earlier that up to 500,000 people had been forced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes that began last week after Hezbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers in cross-border raid.

Tony and Monika Esseily and their three children were winding up a vacation in Lebanon when Israeli airstrikes began July 12.

A standoff between Malta and Spain over the fate of some 50 African migrants has been resolved.

While thousands of Westerners have been bussed, flown and shipped out of Lebanon as Israel continues to bomb the country, some are struggling to get out.

Israeli troops were reportedly fighting Hezbollah militants in two locations near the border.

CAIRO (AFP) — Israel’s crushing offensive in Lebanon prompted calls by Egyptian opposition groups Wednesday for peace deals with the Jewish state to be revoked and oil and gas exports to be frozen.

CAIRO — Arab governments disagree on who to blame for starting the Middle East violence of the past week but, unlike Israel and the United States, they agree at least that the bombings should end immediately and talks should begin.

TYRE — Ghassan Bourji says he has run out of insulin for his two diabetic children and heart medication for his mother because Israeli bombardment has cut supplies to his village of Rmadiyeh in south Lebanon.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The spectre of Israel sinking into the “quagmire” of Lebanon as when hundreds of troops were killed in 1982 has put an anti-Hizbollah ground offensive on hold, military officials said Wednesday.