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[LARNACA, Cyprus, July 25 2006] - Evacuees fleeing Israeli bombing in Lebanon said on Tuesday they feared family and friends they left behind were running out of food as the United Nations announced the start of a major relief operation. Fewer boats carrying evacuees were expected to arrive in Cypriot and Turkish ports as attention turned to the far greater number of people who lack the means to leave Lebanon. "Everybody where I lived is running out of bread, food, water, money. It's very bad," said Mohammad Kaleb, a 29-year-old Australian, as he came ashore in Cyprus from a boat that had carried 750 people to safety. Another Australian, Marcelle Henna, 26, echoed his concern. "In my village it is still all right, but people are buying things in huge quantities. They are afraid of running out, in case anything happens like an (Israeli) invasion," she said. "Shops are raising prices, which makes problems worse." UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland, returning to Cyprus after a fact-finding trip to Beirut, said the world body would start its first large convoy of aid supplies on Wednesday and a second would leave on Friday. "We will be going every second day from then on... There is no more time, aid is long overdue," he told reporters. Egeland said he would travel to Israel on Tuesday and urge it to provide safe passage for the aid convoys. "I will ask the Israelis to shield the population. I have seen too many wounded children, too many wounded women, and hundreds of thousands fleeing," he said. Egeland, who earlier appealed for $150 million in emergency humanitarian aid for Lebanan, said that Israeli destruction of bridges and other infrastructure would slow the relief effort. "The civilians are in some areas trapped and don't have roads to escape on," he said. Cypriot authorities say some 35,000 evacuees had reached the holiday island as of Monday morning, of whom 23,000 had already travelled home. Western officials say the numbers of their nationals trying to leave Lebanon has now fallen off. Turkey has opened its Mediterranean port of Mersin to the evacuees, relieving some of the strain on tiny Cyprus, whose limited facilities have been sorely strained by the crisis. US officials said more than 12,000 Americans had now left Lebanon. France said it had evacuated 4,450 French nationals and 1,150 foreigners as of midday on Monday. (Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Larnaca) [Source: Reuters]