This Friday, June 5, the United Nations requested the equivalent of 594 million euros in humanitarian donations for Lebanon, thus doubling the amount requested last March.
In the emergency appeal issued this Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA, in its original acronym) warned that the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is serious and is deteriorating, citing problems such as the constant displacement of the civilian population, insufficient accommodation capacity and limited prospects for safe return are worsening the vulnerability of citizens.
The UN agency also warned that affected people are running out of “adaptation capacity” and essential services are under increasing pressure.
In March, the UN had requested 308 million dollars (264 million euros) to support the large-scale emergency response led by the Lebanese Government until the end of last May. Now, the objective is to more than double this amount to reach 1.4 million people (about a quarter of the population) in need of humanitarian assistance in Lebanon.
Lebanon estimates that Israeli attacks have resulted in more than 3,500 fatalities since Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2. Since the start of the war, almost a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their places of residence across the country, while more than 1.2 million people face “severe food insecurity”, according to the appeal released this Friday.
The agency reported that pressure on prices is worsening the situation, with the cost of water, fuel and electricity increasing by more than a third across the country and up to 70% in areas directly affected by the conflict, also highlighting the strain that the conflict is causing on Lebanon’s health system, with 62 hospitals and other medical facilities damaged or closed. Education has also been affected, as almost 450 schools are being used to welcome displaced people.
