While negotiations for a truce in Gaza continue, on the second front on the Israeli-Lebanese border, violence continues daily. Unicef publishes a report on the situation of children in South Lebanon, forgotten collateral victims of the war.
Published on 04/30/2024 6:17 p.m.
Reading time: 2 min
Everyone’s eyes are focused on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who are experiencing a terrible humanitarian situation. But there is also another region very impacted, this time by the clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, it is southern Lebanon and more particularly the border area with the Jewish state. As many as 90 villages were totally damaged or destroyed, according to the UN, forcing more than 90,000 civilians, including 30,000 children, to leave their homes and seek refuge in other, safer parts of Lebanon. Unicef presented the report “Caught in the crossfire”Tuesday April 30, 2024, on Lebanese children, which provides an extremely worrying assessment.
Children are, even more than adults, directly impacted by armed violence. Dfirstly in terms of hygiene and health, due to the closure of hospitals and primary health centers, but also en terms of education. 72 public and private schools no longer operate according to Unicef, which fears a generation of children dropping out of school. And then there are the invisible wounds, the children are traumatized by the noise of the bombings. In its report, Unicef notes “alarming levels of stress”.
For Lebanon, it is a new test in the middle of an ocean of difficulties. The land of the Cedar is overwhelmed on all sides. With unprecedented economic and social collapse, it is politically ungovernable, it is burdened by hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, and now it is faced with refugees from the South and a high level of tension between Hezbollah and Israel. .
In Beirut, there is fear that after the Gaza Strip and Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, this time wants to eradicate Hezbollah, which would plunge Lebanon into a devastating war. The children of southern Lebanon would undoubtedly be the first victims. Unicef is launching an appeal for help, particularly from international donors and donors, because some of them have reduced their financial contribution to the UN agency dedicated to children by 60%.
