According to the UN, a quarter of a million people have fled to Syria as a result of Israel’s ongoing offensive in Lebanon. And Turkey is bracing for a new exodus as the numbers are expected to rise.
Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, briefs reporters ahead of the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
With Israel continues targeting Hezbollah,Israeli prime minister is urging UN peacekeeping soldiers to evacuate war-torn parts of Lebanon. After hearing that five U.N. peacekeepers had been injured in recent Israeli strikes, he made his comments.
A quarter of a million people, according to the UN, have left Israel’s attacks in Lebanon in the last two weeks in search of the relative safety of Syria. Having fled their country’s civil conflict for safety in Lebanon, the majority of them are Syrians who have returned home with no place to stay.
A small port in Turkey is serving as an alternate route for people fleeing Lebanon, as the majority of flights out of the country have been canceled and ticket costs have skyrocketed.
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s border with Israel has escalated a year after the war that was started by Hamas’s attack on Israel. The UN estimates that the fighting has caused 200,000 people to be displaced as a result of a fresh humanitarian disaster.
Israel’s last year of war has had an impact on everyone.In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, many people lost loved ones, while others had their homes and towns destroyed.
After a year of war in Gaza, people whose homes were damaged now go about their everyday lives looking for safety and basic necessities. Eighty-six percent of Gaza’s pre-war population, or 1.9 million people, have been displaced, according to the UN. Many of them are living in camps for refugees with no access to food and medical care.
One year after the Israel-Hamas war began, hospitals in Gaza are finding it difficult to provide even the most basic care due to the destruction of much of the country’s medical infrastructure.Al Aqsa hospital, which is supposed to service a million people, is one of the struggling facilities.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.