Peters 'seriously concerned' over Lebanon conflict

New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs says he is seriously concerned that the conflict in Lebanon continues to escalate, after Israel began a ground incursion into the country.

• Israel begins ground invasion of Lebanon

A spokesperson for Winston Peters said the government was closely monitoring the situation, and reiterated the call for all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to agree to a ceasefire.

Israel's ground invasion into Lebanon follows its deadly detonation of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers, two weeks of airstrikes, and its killing on Friday of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, which dealt the group one of the heaviest blows in decades.

The intensive air strikes have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.

Speaking about the escalation of conflict Peters said all parties, all the time, needed to respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians.

Last week, New Zealanders in Lebanon were advised to leave, or prepare to shelter in place.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said their staff were in daily contact with New Zealanders who had registered with them and were still in Lebanon.

"In the past 24 hours, new groups of New Zealanders have registered with MFAT seeking help to making flight bookings to depart Lebanon," the ministry said.

"We are assisting those new registrants, but encourage all travelers to continue working with airlines and their travel agent to secure departure bookings as soon as they become available."

Middle East Airlines was the main airline operating flights out of Beirut, with more than 30 flights departing each day, MFAT said.

"But there is significant demand for these and flights are currently full. It may take several days for bookings to become available."

 - Any New Zealander in the area who needs urgent consular assistance should call MFAT's 24/7 emergency assistance call centre on: +64 99 20 20 20.

 - RNZ/Reuters