UN humanitarian aid workers reported in the Lebanese capital “another night of strikes” and continued attacks as emergency responders continued to try to help anyone in need. This happened “despite their own families being displaced and seeking safety,” said the UN’s chief humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza.
“Another sleepless night in Beirut. I count the explosions that shake the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Fear and anxiety are ubiquitous,” said Jeanine Hennis, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon.
In an update on Thursday, the UN migration agency said: IOMreported that 1,600 lives have already been lost and 6,000 others injured in recent days. “It is of the utmost importance that citizens are protected. IOM offers help, but continued support is needed,” it said said. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus meanwhile warned that the death toll is “rising” as hospitals are overwhelmed by the influx of injured patients.
Multiple explosions
Among the relief teams already helping some of the approximately one million people on the way so far is the UN refugee agency, UNHCRsaid the humanitarian toll was “devastating” as Israeli attacks continued to displace thousands of people.
It stressed that all involved in the hostilities in Lebanon “desperately needed” the support of the international community to meet basic needs: food, hygiene and medical care.
“We are talking about a lot of trauma and fear, so that will also be huge,” said Ivo Freijsen of UNHCR Lebanon, highlighting the traumatic experience of a young woman, Nancy, who described the scenes around her as “terrifying… We are starting to accept that we could die at any moment… the stress I am experiencing is difficult to describe,” she said told the UN agency, while a displaced Lebanese woman, Muna, said she ran out of her house because “there were ten explosions at the same time.”
Communities in southern Lebanon have also had to flee the escalating conflict, including Zeinab and Fatima, who were at home preparing to go to school for an exam when the shelling began, at which point they feared their house was about to collapse .
Child terror
“My mother told us to pack our things quickly, and we left in a hurry,” 14-year-old Zeinab told the UN Children’s Fund. UNICEF.
When she and her family reached Beirut after a “terrifying” journey, Zeinab described hearing shells “all around us” while the “sound of explosions echoed everywhere.”
To help countless children across Lebanon, UNICEF is providing urgently needed water, health, nutrition, education and psychosocial support on the ground.
Nearly 130,000 newly displaced people have also been reached by the World Food Program (WFP) with hot meals, food parcels, bread, sandwiches and emergency cash aid, the UN agency tweeted.
“As the security situation in Lebanon deteriorates, the need for emergency food is growing rapidly,” said WFP Regional Director Corinne Fleischer, calling on all parties to continue facilitating humanitarian access.