More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced from their homes in the past three weeks, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today, as quoted by the Associated Press. The organization warned that a generation has been lost in the small country, which is struggling with multiple crises, including now a war, cited by BTA.
Israel is escalating its campaign against the Lebanon-based armed group “Hezbollah”, also launching a ground operation. This comes after a year of mutual exchange of fire across the border, during the military operation against “Hamas” in the Gaza Strip.
Fighting in Lebanon forced 1.2 million people from their homes. Most of them have fled to the capital Beirut and the northern parts of the country in the last three weeks since the escalation began.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Operations, Ted Chaiban, visited schools that have been converted into accommodation centers for displaced families.
„What strikes me most about this war is that it is only three weeks old, and so many children are already affected,” Chaiban told The Associated Press in Beirut. “As we stand here, 1.2 million children are deprived of education. Public schools are either inaccessible, damaged by the hostilities, or used as accommodation centers. The last thing this country needs is another lost generation,” he added.
Some private schools in Lebanon are still open, but the public school system has been hit hard, as have the country's most vulnerable people – Palestinian and Syrian refugees. “I worry about the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian children who are at risk of being left without an education,” said Chaiban.
More than 2,300 people in Lebanon have died in Israeli strikes, with nearly 75% of them killed in the past month, the Ministry of Health said. Over 100 children have been killed and more than 800 injured in the past three weeks.
Chaiban stressed that the displaced children are housed in overcrowded centers where three or four families live in one classroom separated by plastic panels, and 1,000 people use only 12 toilets. Many of them live in tents on the roads or on the beaches.
„Many of these children have experienced so much violence, including the sounds of gunshots and airstrikes, that they flinch at any loud noise,” Chaiban said. He added that the evacuation orders further worsened their condition.
One hundred primary care centers are also down due to the escalation, with only 12 hospitals accepting patients.
Water infrastructure is also badly affected. In the last three weeks, 26 water plants have been damaged, providing water to nearly 350,000 people. UNICEF is working with local authorities to restore them.
Chaiban called for the protection of civilian infrastructure and demanded an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, stressing that the conflict cannot be resolved militarily.
„What we need to do is ensure that this madness stops. There must be a ceasefire before we see more destruction, pain, suffering and death like we have already seen in Gaza,” said Chaiban.
Despite multiple needs, the $108 million emergency aid request for Lebanon is only 8 percent funded three weeks after the escalation began, he added.