UNITED NATIONS, Oct 05 : As Lebanon endured another night of heavy Israeli bombing, UN humanitarian officials and partners described how people desperate to flee the violence found the country\u2019s main border crossing into Syria cut by a new dawn strike, forcing them to skirt \u201ca huge crater\u201d and rubble on foot, to reach the other side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were two strikes and a huge crater was created in the no-man\u2019s land between the Syrian and the Lebanese side. It\u2019s very hard for vehicles still to go through this road,\u201d said Rula Amin, Senior Communications Advisor for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, for the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n
Speaking from Amman, Ms Amin said that people at the Masnaa crossing were so \u201cdesperate to flee Lebanon that they walked actually through that destroyed road\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed into Syria via this route in the past 10 days, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict is intensifying,\u201d said Mathieu Luciano, IOM Head of Office in Lebanon. Speaking from Beirut, he said that between 21 September and 3 October, approximately 235,000 people had crossed into Syria overland, including 82,000 Lebanese and 152,000 Syrians.<\/p>\n
Citing the Lebanese authorities, Luciano added that over the same period, 50,000 mainly Lebanese and 10,000 Syrians had flown out of Beirut airport and around 1,000 had fled by sea.<\/p>\n
Around one million people are estimated to have been displaced in Lebanon since last October, amid intensifying exchanges of fire on either side of the UN-patrolled Blue Line that separates Lebanon and Israel, following the outbreak of war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
IOM data indicates that as of October 2, nearly 400,000 were displaced in the last two weeks alone, amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon, including ground incursions in the south.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf these, more than 165,000 are living in 800 collective shelters across the country. These are schools, that the Government has urgently opened,\u201d said IOM\u2019s Mr. Luciano. \u201cOf course, the numbers continue to rise, as heavy shelling continues to the south in the Beqaa [Valley], in Beirut and other regions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humanitarians said that there was particular concern for the plight of Lebanon\u2019s 180,000 migrant workers \u2013 many of whom are female domestic staff \u2013 who have been left destitute by the mass displacement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are receiving increasing reports of migrant domestic workers being abandoned by their Lebanese employers; either left on the streets or in the homes as their employers flee\u2026They come from Ethiopia, from Kenya, from Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. And they too have been deeply affected by the violence in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Lebanese health authorities, Israeli ground and air strikes across Lebanon including southern Beirut killed 37 people in the last 24 hours, with another 151 wounded.<\/p>\n
UN humanitarians and partners have spent months bolstering Lebanon\u2019s health capacity for a massive influx of injured people. \u201cThis is already happening\u201d in the country\u2019s medical facilities, IOM\u2019s Mr. Luciano told journalists in Geneva, as news broke that a first humanitarian cargo plane had touched down in Beirut with enough medical supplies to treat tens of thousands of injured patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be very clear that if the situation continues to spread, we will all be facing major challenges in the way we respond,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Welcoming news of the humanitarian flight\u2019s arrival in Beirut, head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that further flights were scheduled \u201ccarrying more trauma supplies, as well as mental health and cholera supplies\u201d.<\/p>\n
For those crossing into Syria, UNHCR said that they faced the likelihood of returning to damaged homes with little access to basic services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing today is that with the risks these refugees are facing in Lebanon due to the bombings \u2013 lack of adequate shelters, lack of access to services access \u2013 is making refugees make a very, very difficult choice, so it\u2019s either stay in Lebanon with that growing risk\u2026or taking the decision to go back and cross the border to Syria with all the other risks in mind,\u201d said UNHCR\u2019s Ms. Amin.<\/p>\n
Since October 2023, the UN refugee agency has distributed more than 223,000 items for individuals in need and cash assistance to 70,000.<\/p>\n
The response also includes carrying out repairs or support for collective shelters, with emergency medical care provided in a network of 42 hospitals across Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, UNHCR is working to reinforce its supplies of much needed relief items to meet the increasing needs and to prepare for any possible further escalations and displacement,\u201d Ms. Amin added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 05 : As Lebanon endured another night of heavy Israeli bombing, UN humanitarian officials and partners described how people desperate to flee the violence found the country\u2019s main border crossing into Syria cut by a new dawn strike, forcing them to skirt […]<\/p>\n
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