Lebanon is experiencing a massive displacement crisis
We’re witnessing a humanitarian crisis, a massive displacement crisis.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 90,000 people have been on the move in the past four days, adding to the 110,000 people who have been displaced in the past year.
We have heard the minister of interior say that shelters are accommodating more than 70,000 people. Some of the displaced are having to rent apartments, and some are staying with friends and relatives, but no doubt this is a crisis for a near-bankrupt state.
Lebanon is a country that has been living off international aid for years now and does not have enough funds to help people in need. This is not going to be easy and it seems that we’re just at the beginning.
‘Chaotic, dehumanising’: Displaced Lebanese student describes being forced out of hometown
Khadija Basma, a student at the Lebanese American University, said she fled her hometown near Tyre amid Israeli air strikes with her family in a hurry, taking few belongings.
They travelled to a town further north, a trip that usually takes just 30 minutes. But the chaos, traffic jams and bombardment in nearby areas caused the trip to take 11 hours, she said.
“You don’t have access to phone service so you can’t call your loved ones to check on them or check which roads are open,” Basma told Al Jazeera.
While travelling, she saw crowds of displaced people with “nowhere to go”, some sleeping in their cars, others sleeping on the side of the road. “It was very hectic, chaotic, dehumanising and humiliating,” she said.
Israeli attacks putting ‘immense pressure on Lebanon’s fragile health system’
The level of displacement and violence taking place in Lebanon is putting “immense pressure on an already fragile health system”, Luna Hammad, the medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), told Al Jazeera.
“Health facilities are operating with extremely limited capacity due to the shortages of fuel, supplies and staff,” Hammad said, adding that the country was already in need of trauma care, chronic disease management and mental health support.
Lebanon plunged into a deep economic crisis in 2019 that crippled its health system. “People here are already facing immense hardship due to the economic crisis and this has deepened their suffering,” Hammad said.
