JERUSALEM

Israel is preparing to set up a tent city in the southern part of the country to accommodate residents from northern towns in the event of a possible war with Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday that several regional councils in southern Israel, alongside the army's "Home Front Command" were preparing for "thousands who may have to evacuate."

Local authorities in the Ramat Negev region were preparing to accommodate "tens of thousands of evacuees" in case of an escalation on the northern border, the newspaper added.

The plan reportedly includes the construction of a tent city with hundreds of beds and mattresses that have already been procured.

The daily cited the regional council as saying that it expects thousands of Israelis to evacuate to the Negev independently. "For this reason, we've established an evacuee management unit aimed at aiding the incoming population."

The council's emergency headquarters conducted a drill simulating a scenario of mass evacuations two weeks ago, the same source reportedly said.

"Evacuating thousands of people from the north is a realistic scenario, and it would have been better to prepare for it six months ago," said council head Eran Doron.

Since last week, Tel Aviv has declared a state of alert along the Lebanese border in anticipation of a Hezbollah response to Israel's assassination of the group's leader, Fuad Shukr, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on July 30.

In recent days, Israeli media have reported that Tel Aviv expects Hezbollah to launch a major rocket attack on the north.

Some local media outlets have not ruled out the possibility that retaliatory actions could escalate into a full-scale war with Lebanon.

Israel has evacuated 43 towns near the Lebanese border since the beginning of the war in early October, leading to the displacement of 62,299 Israelis to various parts of the country, according to Israeli figures.

Media reports estimate that tens of thousands of Israelis could be displaced under the weight of a Hezbollah attack, which they expect could last several days.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio