By Maya Gebeily BEIRUT, March 13 (Reuters) - Israel has rebuffed a historic offer of direct talks from Lebanon, deeming it too little too late from a government that shares its goal of disarming Hezbollah but cannot act against the heavily armed Lebanese group without risking a civil war.

Israeli attacks on targets in Lebanon have left more than 20 people dead overnight, Lebanese officials said on Friday morning. Nine people, including five children, were killed in the area around the

Over an eighth of Lebanon's territory is under Israeli orders for people to leave their homes, an aid group said on Friday, while the United Nations

“They're sleeping on the street without anything,” Aline Kamakian from World Central Kitchen told Newsweek.

Young kids with “blast injuries, shrapnel, rubble, really devastating injuries” are among the wounded as Israel steps up strikes.

Many don’t have a place to stay, and the cash-strapped government has only been able to accommodate roughly 120,000 people.

The war is expanding into Lebanon, as an Israeli offensive to dismantle Hezbollah has displaced 800,000 people there, with more than 680 people killed.

Israel struck central Beirut overnight and issued the first ever evacuation order for part of the capital, as Israel vows it will not stop until Hezbollah is defeated and nearly a million people are displaced in Lebanon alone.

Israel’s military has bombed central Beirut, killing at least 12 people and sending black smoke billowing into the sky over Lebanon’s capital. The Israeli strikes on Thursday targeted the Bachoura neighborhood close to downtown Beirut.