JERUSALEM 

Israeli health authorities are moving patients from areas of northern Israel to hospitals in central parts of the country in what appears to be preparations for a war with Lebanon, local media reported Monday. 

Israeli private Channel 12 said it was the first time such a move has occurred since the start of the Israeli onslaught against Gaza on Oct. 7 last year.

It added that the patients who were transferred from the north are complex medical cases, and many of them are placed on ventilators.

The channel noted that bed occupancy in intensive care units at hospitals in northern Israel is "relatively small," including the Ziv Medical Center, the Poria Hospital, and the Galilee Medical Center.

Tensions have soared along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed 37,900 people since Oct. 7 last year.

The Lebanese group has linked the cessation of its attacks on Israel to the end of Tel Aviv’s onslaught on Gaza.  

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara