BEIRUT (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The border towns in southern Lebanon are witnessing a continuous wave of displacement, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that about 900 government shelters for the displaced in Lebanon have been completely filled due to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese fleeing the Israeli occupation’s bombing.
The Minister of Social Affairs in the Lebanese caretaker government, Hector Hajjar, announced that there are about 200,000 displaced people in the shelters, and that a large number of displaced people of different nationalities are now distributed in the streets and roads, while the rest of the displaced Lebanese have sought refuge with their relatives.
For its part, the United Nations Population Fund expressed its deep concern about the safety of 520,000 women and girls affected by the escalation of the conflict in Lebanon since September 27, including more than 11,000 pregnant women in dire need of health care and other basic services.
The UNFPA Regional Director for the Arab States, Laila Baker, described the increasing violence and displacement of civilians in Lebanon as “heartbreaking,” stressing that the disruption of essential life-saving health services for women and girls “is deeply worrying, and the need to provide protection is an urgent and life-or-death matter, including for UN staff.”
