2023-10-28 01:32:36
About 29,000 people were displaced in Lebanon as a result of the military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel in the border area coinciding with the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.
The organization reported in a report that the escalation across the border between Israel and Lebanon led to the displacement of 28,965 people within the south, including the border area, the capital Beirut and the nearby Baabda area.
The organization’s reports on the displacement movement show that it is gradually increasing as the escalation continues. On Monday, the organization reported a 37 percent increase in the number of displaced people compared to its last report three days ago, in which it indicated 21,000 displaced people.
Many displaced people headed to non-border southern cities and towns, while others chose to flee to Beirut and its environs or other areas in the north and center of the country.
Many displaced people joined their family members or found homes to rent, while others took refuge in shelters in the coastal city of Tyre (south) and the Hasbaya region (southeast).
The border area has witnessed an exchange of bombing, especially between Hezbollah and Israel, since the Hamas movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on the 7th of this month, which responded with concentrated bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip.
The escalation resulted in the killing of 58 people, the majority of whom were Hezbollah fighters, in addition to fighters from Palestinian factions and four civilians, including Archyde.com news agency photographer Issam Abdullah. At least four people were killed on the Israeli side.
On Friday, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted several Israeli sites near the border with weapons, including “guided missiles.”
The Israeli army, in turn, announced on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that a number of missiles fired from Lebanon fell into Syrian territory.
Displacement warning
The International Organization for Migration warned a few days ago that displacement may increase the burden on host communities due to the ongoing economic collapse in Lebanon since 2019, during which the majority of the population has fallen below the poverty line, and the state has become unable to provide the most basic services, including health care and hospitalization.
A spokesman for the organization, Muhammad Ali Abu al-Naga, warned that displacement might “overwhelm an already fragile health system,” especially as it faces a severe shortage of resources, including medicines.
It appears that the escalation at the border is still adhering to the rules of engagement that have been in effect between Hezbollah and Israel for 16 years, but experts warn of the possibility of it expanding through greater Hezbollah intervention if Israel launches a ground attack on Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, more than 7,326 people were killed, most of them civilians, including 3,038 children as a result of Israeli bombing, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
More than 1,400 people were killed on the Israeli side, most of them civilians who died on the first day of the Hamas attack, according to the Israeli authorities.
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