Lebanon: Tragedy for Displaced People After Israeli Attacks

A wave of displaced people fleeing Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon has poured into the capital Beirut.

While at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, both Biden (USA) and Pezeshkian (Iran) explain that they do not want escalation, and UN Secretary General António Guterres declares that “the people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza Strip.” In the country bordering Israel to the north, casualties are already in the hundreds.

Lebanon’s head of emergency plan Minister Naser Yasine said, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, that at least 28,000 civilians have sought shelter in schools across the country. And that’s on top of more than 100,000 displaced people earlier this month. “But judging by the line of cars that yesterday blocked the road between Tyre and Sidon to the capital, there are at least twice as many,” Corriere explains. Roads toward Beirut are clogged with those trying to flee, and queues of cars are lining up at the border with Syria.

The American University Hospital in Beirut explains that they are working under emergency conditions and are running out of blood for transfusions, while the Ministry of Health estimates the death toll at 558, including 50 children and 98 women.

The situation was described as “extremely tragic” by Valentina Corona, head of the mission of the international humanitarian organization Intersos in Lebanon, in an interview with the French newspaper La Presse. “As humanitarian workers, we are working to understand the needs of centers that receive displaced people, mainly schools, including distributing basic necessities, such as personal hygiene items, as displaced people have left almost all of their belongings behind. They left in cars full of people, so they had little room to carry luggage, along with their children, grandparents, and parents.”