GENEVA — Nearly 700,000 people have been displaced across Lebanon in more than a week as the escalating conflict has left families homeless in the blink of an eye, the United Nations refugee agency (UNCHR) said on Tuesday, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s representative in Lebanon, told reporters in Geneva that the crisis has seen families displaced in the blink of an eye due to attacks. Evacuation warnings were issued on March 2 for residents of more than 53 villages and densely populated areas.
“Life is being affected on a massive scale,” she said.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 667,000 people have registered on the government’s online displacement platform, an increase of more than 100,000 in just one day, with the number continuing to rise.
About 120,000 of the displaced are currently sheltering in collective sites set up by the government, Billing said, while many more are staying with relatives or are seeking shelter after fleeing their homes with few belongings.
The violence has also sparked cross-border movements into neighboring Syria. Syrian authorities reported that more than 78,000 Syrians and more than 7,700 Lebanese had entered Syria since the escalation of the conflict began, he said.
Billing said many families were repeatedly displaced after the conflict that began in 2024, leaving civilians traumatized and frightened.
The UNHCR representative said it had sent some 168,000 emergency relief items to more than 63,000 displaced people in over 270 shelters, but warned that the aid response in Lebanon had only received 14 percent funding.
“With each day that the conflict continues, more suffering is felt by hundreds of thousands of civilians, while Lebanon and the region are becoming increasingly unstable,” he warned.
“Civilians must be protected at all times and safe and unhindered humanitarian access must be guaranteed so that aid can reach those most in need,” he said.
— BERNAMA-ANADOLU
