UNICEF is working to provide emergency aid to children and families caught in intensifying violence between Israel and Hezbollah.
On Sept. 24, 2024, a UNICEF staff member speaks with Maryiam, 10, displaced by violence, now staying with her family in Amiliye public school, now being used as an IDP shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon.
© UNICEF/UNI650255/
Children don’t start wars, but they pay the highest price
Mass displacement continues in Lebanon, where an estimated 201,000 people have been forced out of their homes by Israeli air strikes in a rapidly escalating cross-border conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration.
UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, reported that thousands of Lebanese and Syrian people are fleeing Lebanon for Syria due to ongoing violence.
“The shelling was all around us; we saw fires from the explosions everywhere and the sound of air strikes echoed all around.”
More than 53,000 internally displaced people are staying in over 390 emergency shelters in Lebanon, most of them in converted public schools.
“The shelling was all around us; we saw fires from the explosions everywhere and the sound of air strikes echoed all around,” said 14-year-old Zeinab, who is staying with her family in a shelter set up in Bir Hasan Public School in Beirut. “Our hearts are heavy — we truly miss our village and country. “
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“This is a very dire situation,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “UNICEF is on the ground with government partners and civil society to assess the situation and at the same time responding.”
UNICEF is distributing hygiene kits, mattresses, blankets and sheets to shelters in Lebanon, and evaluating water and sanitation services to address children’s most urgent needs.
UNICEF also continues to be concerned about the conflict’s mental health impacts on children in both Israel and Lebanon. Learn more about where UNICEF works here.
UNICEF initiated the distribution of bottled water and emergency hygiene kits at Bir Hasan Public School in Beirut, Lebanon on Sept. 24, 2024, targeting collective shelters and densely populated areas receiving internally displaced persons (IDPs). The team also began distributing 1,300 blankets and sleeping bags in displacement shelters.
© UNICEF/UNI650117/Choufany
Protecting civilian lives must be the priority
“This bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes,” Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Sept. 25.
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter,” Grandi continued. “We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority.”
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