In an exclusive video interview with UN News While on the mission, Mr. Boulierac demonstrated that, although the hospital was still standing, much of what was there was no longer there.
Along with piles of rubble, collapsed houses and burned cars could be seen at every turn.
‘Completely destroyed’
The hospital is “somewhat functional, but they were running out of water, out of medicine, out of power. I don’t know about the generator, but it’s probably not working properly.” the UNICEF official continued, before pointing out the large solar panel generating system installed by the agency next to the medical center that appeared to have been blown up.
“All the buildings on the streets near the hospitals were normal two weeks ago and today they are completely, completely destroyed,” Boulierac stressed.
“You can see there the first house, the second house, the third house, the fourth house, the fifth house, the sixth, the seventh… at least eight houses completely destroyed.”
Desperate measures
While a fragile ceasefire with Israel that began on April 16 still holds, an unknown number of people are returning to their homes in the south, only for some to find them simply razed.
The situation remains “very dangerous, especially for civilians,” Boulierac said, pointing to major challenges in water supply, electricity, health and education.
“It is still very unstable and very uncertain, especially for the people, the more than a million people who had to leave their homes on March 2,” the date on which Hezbollah attacks on Israel sparked Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, triggering the latest crisis.
“And out of them, Let’s not forget the 400,000 children who need everything.”, stressed the Unicef worker.
Tributes to fallen ‘blue helmets’
In related news, continued support from UN member states to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance to more than a million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the head of UN peacekeepers said on Wednesday.
“Israel will have to do what is necessary to create the space and the political, practical and security conditions for that to happen,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, in Geneva.
In an update on the situation in Lebanon, he noted that some 80,000 civilians remain south of the Litani River despite widespread airstrikes and evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.
Many civilians have already returned to the south, despite the dangers and difficulties of crossing the bombed bridges. “It is going to be a challenge for them, they will need support. UNIFIL has recently stepped up its activity in support of humanitarian assistance,” the peacekeepers chief said.
Israeli forces violate Security Council resolution
He noted that the continued presence of Israeli forces on Lebanese territory “is a violation of resolution 1701,” the Security Council text adopted in 2006 that calls for Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants to leave southern Lebanon and a complete end to hostilities.
Mr. Lacroix He also paid tribute to the five UNIFIL peacekeepers killed in the south in recent days.three from Indonesia and two from France.
On Wednesday the death of French chef-caporal Anicet Girardin, 31, was announced. It follows an attack on a UNIFIL convoy that was attacked on 18 April while clearing a road in southern Lebanon to restore access to isolated UNIFIL positions.
An initial UN assessment found that peacekeepers were attacked by non-state armed groups, presumably Hezbollah.
“I reiterate my condolences to France and Indonesia and to the families of the deceased blue helmets,” he said, insisting that “our blue helmets are indeed making a real difference and they are doing so in the context of an increasingly dangerous environment.”
The situation for UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon remains uncertain, but has improved since the force’s headquarters in Naqoura was attacked in late March by “a non-state actor,” amid intense Israeli exchanges of fire with Hezbollah fighters.
“The UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura is now located in an area where there is a presence of the Israel Defense Forces. That does not mean that UNIFIL cannot move and operate, even within limits and restrictions,” said Mr. Lacroix.
“Those boundaries have been loosened a bit since the beginning of what I call the relative ceasefirenot complete, but still better than during these active hostilities in recent weeks.”