Doctors without Borders: People are fleeing Lebanon ‘with nothing’
Itta Helland-Hansen, project coordinator at Doctors Without Borders (MSF), says more than one million people in Lebanon have had to flee without any possessions.
“That means they lack clothing and other basic items, such as chronic medication, or prescriptions … [and are] in need of mattresses, blankets, hygiene items, and of course, food and water,” she told Al Jazeera from Beirut.
Helland-Hansen warned that some people had moved four times now and that in addition to any physical ailments, many were struggling with mental health issues.
“This has a lasting impact, also mentally or psychologically,” she said. “We hear people in the shelters mentioning that, for instance, just the sound of drones – which I can hear right now outside the window here as well – it’s like a chronic stressor.”
She said her group, MSF, had carried out “thousands of consultations in all the areas or in many areas of the country over the last weeks, along with also mental health care and this distribution of items”. This was done despite the fact that the Lebanese authorities had been greatly impacted in their already limited ability to help.
“We continue to do assessments to see how it’s going in different
Lebanon says 41 killed in Israeli attacks on Monday
It said that 41 people were killed and 124 wounded. The death toll included 21 people who were killed in an air attack that hit an apartment building in Aitou village, in the Christian-majority Zgharta district, in northern Lebanon – the first time the area came under attack during the war.
The newest figures bring the overall death toll since Israel launched an intense air campaign in Lebanon on September 23 to 1,356.
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers and Civil Defence workers remove the remains of killed people from the rubble of a destroyed building at the site of Monday’s Israeli air strike in Aitou, north Lebanon, on Tuesday, October 15
UN agencies say aid distribution under way in Lebanon
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says on X that “humanitarian aid is on the move” in Lebanon.
Israel’s intense bombardment of the country has left more than one million people displaced, with many fleeing to the capital, Beirut, and some across the border to Syria.
“Despite airstrikes in southern Lebanon, UNHCR, UN agencies and The Sheild Association are delivering relief to hard-to-reach areas in Qlayaa, Marjayoun”, the agency’s post says, adding that trucks full of mattresses, blankets, solar lanterns and other essential supplies were moving across the area.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a separate X post that it is “working hard behind the scenes to coordinate the safe passage of essential humanitarian aid to civilians in south Lebanon, including today’s relief convoy”.
UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has been subject to multiple Israeli attacks in the last week, as the Israeli army seeks to move more troops into Lebanon.
Around 3,000 French citizens have left Lebanon since escalation: French FM
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee that no decision had been taken regarding evacuations from Lebanon. Overall, there were about 24,000 French citizens in Lebanon.
Israel clearing mines on border of occupied Golan Heights: Report
In a sign Israel may expand its ground operations against Hezbollah while bolstering its own defences, its troops have cleared landmines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a demilitarised strip bordering Syria, security sources and analysts said told Reuters news agency.
The move suggests Israel may seek to strike Hezbollah for the first time from further east along Lebanon’s border, at the same time creating a secure area from which it can freely reconnoitre the armed group and prevent infiltration, Reuters’ sources said.
It's nice they're cleaning up their mess, but they should really stop occupying the Golan Heights and give it back to Syria.
