Two women passby a damaged house destroyed by raid of Israeli air force in southern Lebanon on July 19, 2006. Thousands more foreigners, mostly westerners, were being evacuated by sea from Beirut to Cyprus, fleeing the Israel-Hezbollah hostilities that have killed more than 300 people and displaced an estimated half a million others, according to the report.(Xinhua Photo)   Photo Gallery>>

    BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes on Thursday shelled a purported Hezbollah leadership bunker in south Beirut as thousands more foreigners fled war-affected Lebanon.

    The warplanes dropped more than 20 tons of explosives on the purported Hezbollah leadership bunker on the deadliest day of the bombardment that began after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas.

    Hezbollah said none of its members had been killed by the intense Israeli bombing, which the Israeli army said was carried out by 20 planes on the site of a purported Hezbollah leadership "bunker."

    Concerns mounted over the humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning of an impending "catastrophe" as Israel's bombing campaign killed 72 people on Wednesday, the bloodiest day since the attacks began a week earlier.

    Thousands more foreigners, mostly westerners, were being evacuated by sea from Beirut to Cyprus, fleeing the Israel-Hezbollah hostilities that have killed more than 300 people and displaced an estimated half a million others.

    More than 1,000 foreigners, mainly Americans, arrived in Cyprus from Beirut on a chartered cruise liner, with U.S. diplomats planning to evacuate some 6,000 nationals from Lebanon by Friday.

    Britain is also planning to evacuate about 5,000 nationals by the end of the week.

    A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane brought 130 Russians and 32 citizens from Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova to Moscow on Wednesday. A second plane is expected to move out more evacuees on Thursday.