Action Against Hunger temporarily pauses some activities in southern Lebanon, but continues its interventions in the rest of the country

The regional expansion of the conflict in Gaza, which in the last 300 days has left almost 40,000 victims, continues to intensify in Lebanon, where almost 99,000 people have been internally displaced fleeing the violence, dozens of critical infrastructures have been destroyed and the work of Action Against Hunger, one of the main organisations responding to the emergency in Lebanon, has been partially interrupted.

“Action Against Hunger has provided emergency humanitarian response in 160 cadasters, including border areas and in shelters for displaced people, since 8 October, but the recent escalation of violence, including this week’s devastating airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs, has led us to pause some activities in the south of the country. The violence is taking an intolerable toll on civilian lives, and we urge all parties to respect international humanitarian law, ensuring the protection of civilians and the work of humanitarian organisations like ours,” explains Action Against Hunger’s Lebanon Country Director, Suzanne Takkenberg.

How is the conflict affecting the Lebanese population

From mid-October to the end of July, displacement in Lebanon increased by 1500%. Of the nearly 99,000 displaced by the conflict, some 30,000 are children, according to UNICEF.

The destruction of essential civilian infrastructure such as roads, telecommunications, health, education, electricity and water supply facilities has very serious implications on people’s lives and can constitute an act against international humanitarian law. For example, the damage to 13 water supply facilities in villages in southern Lebanon is significantly increasing the risk for more than 200,000 people of not having access to safe drinking water or of suffering from waterborne diseases.

“Both the people we are helping and our partners in the affected areas are very concerned that the violence will continue to escalate. We are already seeing thousands of people injured, many of them complaining about food and water shortages, or the effects of white phosphorus on their fields and related loss of their livelihoods. People expected the conflict to be short and it’s been almost 10 months now. They have lost their savings, their homes. When I was in the south, I saw that the mental health of the families is very complicated: they are stressed, traumatised. I saw children crying and not being comforted even if their parents told them that everything would be fine because of all the trauma they have been through,” explains one of the Action Against Hunger workers in Lebanon.

How Action Against Hunger is responding to this crisis

Action Against Hunger teams, present in the country since 2006, have since October attended to the needs of families who did not have a family member to take them in and moved into temporary shelters with essential products for their stay there such as mattresses, blankets or pillows; and have supported the installation and improvement of sanitation and hygiene facilities for the growing population in these shelters. In addition, they have supported families who, despite the damage to their buildings and the area, have remained in their homes. During these months of emergency, our teams have delivered more than 456,000 litres of drinking water and some 95,500 hot meals, among other activities.

The effects of conflict on hunger in Lebanon

The conflict in the country severely affects agriculture and livestock, with the destruction of 340 000 farm animals, 47 000 olive trees and 790 hectares of agricultural land, resulting in 70% losses for farmers and less food available. Commodity prices are rising, making access to food difficult for hundreds of thousands of people already struggling to cope with the conflict. In addition, the use of white phosphorus munitions and explosives threatens the lives of civilians and the fertility of land, in a context of agricultural dependency and severe economic crisis. Even before the conflict, Lebanon was responding to one of the world’s largest hosting crises, with the highest number of displaced people per capita in the world, sheltering 1.5 million Syrian refugees.

The Mlayje family, displaced by the conflict

Fatima, 35, and her family fled Naqoura, Lebanon, when war broke out with Israel in October.