The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon following a large-scale military operation launched by Israel against its northern neighbor this week. Lebanese health officials say nearly 700 people, including more than 50 children, at least 94 women and two UNHCR workers, have been killed and more than 2,000 injured by Israeli airstrikes since Monday.
The ongoing attacks have caused major new population displacements of more than 100,000 people over the past few days, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to more than 200,000 since October 2023. While tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut and other supposedly safer areas, more than 10,000 Lebanese and Syrian civilians have fled into war-torn Syria.
Since Monday, hostilities in Lebanon have been massively escalated by Israel, with thousands of airstrikes carried out across Lebanese territory. The escalation of the war has caused significant civilian casualties and injuries, as well as mass displacement,
Prior to the recent deterioration of the situation across Lebanon, the country was already in the grip of a protracted humanitarian crisis. Since late 2019, Lebanon has been experiencing a complex humanitarian crisis due to several major socio-economic shocks, ongoing political instability, and a sharp deterioration of the economy.
The rapidly evolving situation is putting a heavy strain on the already overstretched health and shelter sectors.
Late Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council that “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon” along the Blue Line, the UN-patrolled line of separation, with exchanges of fire greater in “scope, depth and intensity” than previously.
Following the weeks-long war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, which caused widespread destruction throughout Lebanon and killed some 1,100 people, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1701. It established a buffer zone between the Blue Line in southern Lebanon, a demarcation line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, and the Litani River in Israel.
“Monday was the bloodiest day in Lebanon in a generation. The Israel Defense Forces said that it struck some 1,600 Hezbollah targets. Many civilians were killed, and many, many more were injured. Since then, Israel continued its deadly strikes across Lebanon, including in the southern suburbs of Beirut,” Guterres said.
He said that civilians must be protected, and civilian infrastructure must not be targeted.
“The safety and security of all UN personnel and assets must be ensured. International law must be respected. To all sides, let us say in one clear voice: Stop the killing and destruction. Tone down the rhetoric and threats. Step back from the brink,” the Secretary-General told the Council.
“An all-out war must be avoided at all costs. It would surely be an all-out catastrophe. The people of Lebanon — as well as the people of Israel — and the people of the world — cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
IOM Director General Amy Pope, speaking from the United Nations General Assembly in New York reiterated a call for diplomacy, peace and de-escalation.
“We are deeply alarmed by the military escalation in Lebanon, which has claimed hundreds of lives, including women and children," Pope said Wednesday.
“The welfare of civilians and protection of related infrastructure must be respected, in line with international humanitarian law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 which calls for peace and stability in the region.”
The rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that Israeli strikes across Lebanon are putting civilians throughout the country at grave risk.
“The Israeli military killed hundreds of people in Lebanon in just one day; thousands have been injured and forced to flee from their homes, and hundreds of homes, businesses, and farms have been destroyed” said Lama Fakih, HRW Middle East and North Africa director, in a statement Wednesday.
“It is paramount for Israel and Hezbollah to comply with the laws of war to minimize civilian harm.”
In the early hours of Monday morning, a large-scale military operation launched by Israel in Lebanon resulted in the deadliest exchange of fire across the Blue Line since October 2023. Lebanon also experienced its deadliest day since the end of the country's civil war in 1990.
The new Israeli attacks, which extended into regions not previously impacted by the conflict, resulted in widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. Since October 7, hostilities along the Israeli-Lebanese border between armed groups - including Hezbollah - and the Israeli military have had a devastating impact on the civilian population.
Hezbollah and Israel had been engaged in hostilities, mostly confined to southern Lebanon and northern Israel, following attacks by Palestinian armed groups inside Israeli territory in October last year. As of September 10, the total death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon had risen to 589. Hezbollah has indicated that it would cease hostilities if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
The latest intensification of violence follows an upsurge in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the Blue Line over the past days and two days of terrorist attacks in Lebanon last week using deadly explosions from wireless devices that killed at least 37 people and maimed or injured more than 3,400.
Prior to the escalation, more than 110,000 people in Lebanon had been displaced by the fighting in the south; at least 60,000 people in northern Israel have been displaced by the ongoing violence and rocket attacks by Lebanese armed groups, including Hezbollah.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that on the fourth consecutive day of large-scale military escalation, attacks continue to affect civilians and civilian infrastructure on both sides of the Blue Line.
Water infrastructure has been severely damaged, leaving 250,000 people without access to clean water and bringing the total number of water stations affected since October 2023 to 24.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is providing health supplies to Lebanese health facilities, which were already overwhelmed by last week's communications explosions. The level of health supplies remains insufficient as the crisis worsens.
The UN and its partner aid agencies are also mobilizing food, water and essential items such as mattresses and hygiene kits. Agencies are urgently calling for more shelter sites for displaced people. Nearly 300 schools across the country are being converted to shelter people who have fled their homes.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has pre-positioned enough food to feed 250,000 people for five days, while the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are also providing mattresses, blankets and other supplies to help those who have been displaced.
Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is scaling up its support for the growing number of displaced people crossing the border as thousands of Lebanese and Syrians desperately flee Lebanon for Syria while Israeli airstrikes continue to devastate civilian lives.
According to UNHCR, hundreds of vehicles are queuing at the Syrian border. Many people are also arriving on foot, carrying what they can. Large crowds, including women, young children and babies, are waiting in line after spending the night outdoors in the plummeting temperatures, including those with fresh wounds from recent bombardments.
While UNHCR is responding to the needs of forcibly displaced people across Lebanon in close coordination with the authorities and other humanitarian agencies, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said in a statement that the Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian organizations urgently need at least $170 million to sustain the ongoing humanitarian response and address the new needs created by the escalation.
Aid agencies urgently need these funds to provide essential relief items such as food, medicines and shelter for the immediate response in Lebanon and to support existing relief services for the affected population. OCHA warns that needs will only increase as the impact on civilians grows.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian catastrophe continues in the Gaza Strip, where civilians continue to die from Israeli bombing, disease and starvation. More than 2 million Palestinians are without protection, food, water, sanitation, shelter, health care, education, electricity and fuel - the necessities for survival.
After nearly a year of hostilities, aid organizations still lack safe humanitarian access for their staff and supplies to enter Gaza and reach people in need throughout the territory.
According to Gaza health officials, nearly 41,500 Palestinians in the Strip - the majority of them civilians, including women, children, the elderly, and in some cases entire families - have been killed, and more than 96,000 injured or maimed.