Evacuation planned for trapped NZers in Lebanon [video, audio report]

Stephen Nicholls, 33, of Christchurch, and girlfriend Rose Sinno, 26, from France, are living on a boat in Beirut.

Evacuation plans are being drawn up for New Zealanders in Lebanon as the Middle East crisis deepens.

Many countries, including the United States and most European states, began evacuating their nationals over the weekend.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said today that plans were being made to evacuate about 30 New Zealanders known to be in Lebanon.

He told National Radio: "Evacuation plans are being made as we speak." There were problems getting people out because of the military crisis "but as much as can be done is being done".

The Government was working with Britain and France on the evacuation.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said British authorities looked after New Zealand's interests in countries where it had no diplomatic post. "We will need to be guided by them in their efforts to get out the foreign nationals they're responsible for," she told Newstalk ZB.

She said both sides needed to "pull right back", and added: "New Zealand, like all countries, will be calling on everybody to pull back and get into a dialogue."

Mr Peters said New Zealand had told Israel its response was getting out of hand.

"The fact is the soldiers should be given back, which was the primary cause of the escalation in the first place. But that said, this reaction seems to be far beyond what is required."

Trapped mother and baby

Lebanese New Zealander Nassa Dia has finally heard from his wife Samar, who had taken their 10-month-old daughter Lana to visit family in Lebanon.

"When she called she was crying and she was really scared because...it is really bad over there and she is worried about the baby because the food there is really very little now," he told National Radio. She called at about 4am today.

Mrs Dia and Lana are in the southern Lebanese town of Dahiyah. They were initially in southern Beirut but left when the bombing started.

Mr Dia said his wife planned to visit the British Embassy to find out about evacuation.

Kiwi on yacht

One New Zealander living in Beirut on a yacht is stuck in the strife-torn city until a sea blockade is lifted.

Steve Nicholls, 33, of Christchurch, is on a yacht in a marina in the northern, largely Christian, area of Beirut.

Mr Nicholls told the Herald yesterday that people were stocking up on supplies such as drinking water, and filling their gas tanks. The price of fuel had already shot up.

"Everybody is trying to keep their gas tanks topped up because there's no ships with fuel coming in at the moment."

He said he stayed away from southern Beirut.

"[The rockets] are within visual distance if you walk out to the breakwater from the marina. The big explosions, we can hear and feel those. Possibly the coast will be more dodgy than the interior at some point, but at the moment we are not worried at all."

He and his French partner arrived in May and were to stay until the end of August on the boat, owned by a Saudi Arabian who used it for holidays. "We are not trying to get out, partly because at the moment we can't leave by sea ... It sounds like it's getting more and more difficult to get out by road to Syria, so it seems the safest thing is to stay and there's nothing affecting our day-to-day lives."

On holiday

Daniel Nakhle, from Auckland, said he was in daily contact with his parents, Henriette and Elias Nakhle, who were in Lebanon for a holiday.

"They are fine and dandy, just up in the mountains about 30 minutes out of Beirut. We've got an apartment we spend a bit of time in and it's very safe. There is no real effect where they are, in the Christian areas."

He said they were due to leave on July 31 - if they can get out.

Auckland woman Diane Levy said her daughter Tanya, a tour guide in Israel, was in the north of the country when the rockets started firing.

"She emailed that she was in Tzvat [also known as Zefat or Safed] and rockets had fallen 5km away, which she wrote was 'plenty far to be safe, but too close for comfort'. She met with soldiers who had just spent the night being with the family of a soldier who had been killed overnight."

Tanya had since returned to Jerusalem.

"For me, she lives in a sovereign state that has bombs and rockets raining on it, and has suicide bombers," said Ms Levy.

"Of course we are worried and ... wish to see her safe. But it is her Jewish homeland and she wishes to live there."