The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon remains fragile and volatile despite the ceasefire being extended until mid-May. Hostilities are continuing to cause civilian casualties. On Thursday, Lebanese authorities reported multiple airstrikes and military activity across towns in southern Lebanon, resulting in at least nine deaths and 13 injuries.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 48 people were killed and 183 injured between April 17 and 28. This brings the total number of casualties from Israeli attacks to over 10,300, with more than 2,500 people killed and over 7,800 injured since the latest escalation began on March 2.
Lebanon is facing a severe humanitarian crisis following large-scale Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and ground operations that started in early March. These were triggered by a broader regional escalation, which began with the US-Israeli launch of a war on Iran, followed by rocket and drone launches by the non-state armed group Hezbollah.
Massive Israeli military activities have targeted the south of the country, the Bekaa region, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing massive displacement, many deaths and injuries, as well as widespread destruction.
Despite major constraints, aid agencies continue to support those in need and facilitate humanitarian access where access is possible. They have distributed over 7.3 million meals and more than 100,000 meal boxes. Over 3.8 million liters of bottled water and around 716,000 liters of fuel have been delivered to sustain critical water services for over 623,000 people.
From March 2 to April 30, humanitarian organizations carried out 100 facilitated movements so that urgent assistance could reach communities in hard-to-access areas, according to a voluntary notification system managed by OCHA.
Humanitarian workers are killed as attacks on healthcare facilities continue
On Wednesday, Lebanese authorities reported that three civil defense rescue workers were killed in southern Lebanon when two Israeli strikes hit a building in Majdal Zoun, a town in the Tyre District. The emergency teams were responding to people wounded in an earlier strike at the time, according to officials.
This latest incident underscores the risks faced by civilians, including emergency and humanitarian personnel. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of attacks on healthcare has climbed to 149 since the start of the conflict, resulting in 100 deaths and 233 injuries.
At the height of the escalation before the ongoing ceasefire, more than a fifth of the Lebanese population — approximately 1.2 million people — were internally displaced, and more than 300,000 crossed into Syria. While tens of thousands have returned home, at least temporarily, about 1 million people remain internally displaced, and continued volatility is driving people from their homes.
On Wednesday, Israeli authorities issued a new displacement order for areas south of the Litani River. The order covers 16 areas and instructs residents to move to the nearby town of Saida.
Also on Wednesday, OCHA warned that women and children are disproportionately affected by the ongoing crisis. Reports indicate that they are experiencing heightened psychological distress and bearing the brunt of the impacts of displacement, family separation, and economic hardship.
The risk of gender-based violence remains high, particularly in overcrowded shelters. With money running out, some families who had initially rented places to live are turning to collective shelters.
Food insecurity deteriorates
The sharp escalation in violence has reversed recent food security gains and caused a sharp deterioration in Lebanon's food security situation.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released Wednesday, an estimated 1.24 million people are expected to experience crisis-level food insecurity (IPC Phase 3) or worse between April and August of this year.
This is much worse than the period from November 2025 to March 2026, when an estimated 874,000 people experienced acute food insecurity. The IPC attributes this deterioration to conflict, displacement, and economic pressures.
While the crisis affects all population groups, it remains particularly severe among displaced and vulnerable populations, such as Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
As Lebanon’s food security situation remains highly sensitive to shocks, the IPC warns that without predictable humanitarian assistance, improved access, and stabilization of the security and economic environment, food insecurity is likely to deepen further in the months ahead.
Despite the growing needs, the humanitarian response within the country remains significantly underfunded. As of today, the Lebanon Flash Appeal, which aims to support one million people affected by the conflict, has received only 38 percent of the $308 million needed, or just over US$117 million.
Civilians in peril as serious violations of international humanitarian law continue
Despite the three-week extension of the fragile ceasefire that began on April 23, Israeli attacks remain a significant risk to civilians and civilian infrastructure. According to the United Nations (UN), healthcare facilities and workers have been attacked, and critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and homes, has been destroyed or severely damaged by Israeli security forces since March 2.
A report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) covering the first three weeks of hostilities found that Israeli forces conducted direct attacks on civilians, including medical personnel; prevented residents from evacuating safely; and targeted infrastructure critical to livelihoods, including agricultural land.
OHCHR has warned that similar incidents have continued since the ceasefire began.
Under international humanitarian law, medical personnel, whether military or civilian, and other civilians, including journalists, are protected, as are civilian buildings and objects. Deliberately targeting them amounts to a war crime.
The UN human rights office has also documented several incidents in which Israeli strikes hit and, in some cases, leveled multi-story residential buildings, killing entire families.
On Wednesday, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect issued a report warning that the Israeli government appears to be replicating in Lebanon the tactics used to commit atrocities in Gaza. This suggests a parallel campaign of collective punishment, including mass displacement orders, strikes on densely populated areas with little or no warning, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure.
These warnings follow those issued in mid-April by over two dozen UN human right experts who stressed that Israel’s “deliberate destruction of homes is a weapon of war and a form of collective punishment, particularly in Shiite areas in the rural south of the country” and that this conduct “points to ethnic cleansing.”
“Forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes crimes against humanity and is a war crime under international law,” the rights experts said. They also condemned Hezbollah’s recent cross-border attacks against Israeli civilians.
The armed group has reportedly fired unguided rockets into residential areas in Israel, damaging buildings and other civilian infrastructure. OHCHR notes that such strikes may also constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law.