“Hundreds of vehicles are lined up at the Syrian border. Many people are also arriving on foot, carrying as much as they can.” UNHCR reported. “As temperatures drop, large crowds of people, including women, children, and babies, are waiting in line to spend the night outdoors. Some have new injuries from recent bombings.”
Filippo Grandi, director-general of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the news was “another ordeal for families” who had fled Syria for years to escape the country’s civil war. .The Middle East cannot afford a new refugee crisis. Let’s not create one by forcing more people to leave their homes..”
Mr. Grandi’s appeal follows Israel’s heavy shelling of Lebanon on Monday, which killed at least 558 people, including children and women, and wounded 1,835, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The attack follows weekend rocket attacks on Israeli communities in response to unusual explosions of radios and pagers belonging to Hezbollah last week. This is the latest devastating development related to the ongoing war in Gaza.
An emergency UN Security Council meeting requested by France on the deteriorating humanitarian situation across Lebanon is scheduled to be held in New York on Wednesday night.
Departure ‘by the minute’
More than 27,000 people were left homeless in the last 48 hours, with people “abandoning their homes every minute”. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
The latest UN data shows at least 90,530 newly displaced people. Since October 2023, approximately 112,000 people have been forcibly displaced.
The UN agency, along with partners including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, is crossing Syrian borders to “provide arriving people with food, water, blankets and mattresses, and direct them to assistance once they arrive in Syria.”
Lebanon is home to about 1.5 million Syrian refugees who fled their country during the ongoing civil war, leaving critical infrastructure in tatters and millions more in need of assistance.
mass migration related to war
OCHA, the United Nations relief coordination agency, said in an update on the crisis in Lebanon that more than 110,000 people have already been displaced since October last year.
By Tuesday evening, more than 25,000 people had sought refuge in 130 new congregate shelters, according to government figures cited by OCHA. “The situation is fluid and the United Nations is working with national authorities and partners to track and register newly displaced people,” he said.
Other UN agencies supporting relief efforts include UNICEF, which has delivered 100 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to hospitals facing critical shortages, with more to come.
$170 million needed to maintain support
UN agencies are also preparing to deliver essential items including food, water, mattresses and hygiene kits to affected families.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said it was prepared to provide daily hot meals to up to 100,000 people in shelters.
Sustaining these efforts will require $170 million in funding, the humanitarian group said.
Vehicles carrying families fleeing Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon arrived at the Syrian border on Tuesday.
Killed in anger at UN staff
In this regard, UNHCR expressed anger and deep sorrow over the death of two of its staff in an airstrike in Lebanon.
The first victim, Dina Darwiche, died along with her youngest son when the building where she lived with her family in eastern Lebanon was hit by an Israeli missile on Monday. Their bodies were found on Tuesday, and the husband and one child were seriously injured and are being treated at the hospital.
The second victim, Ali Basma, had worked at a United Nations agency in the city of Tire for seven years. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had expressed outrage over his death after he was confirmed dead on Monday.
“The protection of civilians is essential and we reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for an urgent de-escalation of tensions.We call on all parties to protect civilians, including aid workers, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” the UN agency said.
