“Today’s wave of IDF attacks came just as hopes were rising for an end to the violence and destruction.”tweeted UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
“This cannot continue. Neither side can fire or attack to achieve victory.”
Hospitals under pressure
Israeli forces reported carrying out More than 100 airstrikes in approximately 10 minutes.the top UN aid official in Lebanon, Imran Riza, said in a briefing to reporters in New York.
He described the scale of the bombing as “dramatic” and said “the level of these attacks has been enormous.”
Although casualty figures were not yet available, he said it was believed hundreds of people may have been killed and many others injured.
“Hospitals are overwhelmed“And, of course, there is a huge call to donate blood throughout the country,” he added.
An “extremely critical” situation
Another senior UN official, Blerta Aliko, spoke with UN News during a pre-arranged interview as the shelling in Beirut intensified. She and other United Nations Development Program (UNDP) staff abandoned their offices and took refuge in the basement. When the interview resumed, the situation “had become extremely critical.”
“I personally heard the sound of nine knocks. There have been more than 40 strikes in Beirut and hundreds more across the country.”said Ms. Aliko, UNDP Resident Representative in Lebanon.
“So far, the director general of the Red Cross has confirmed more than 300 victims.”
Increasing displacement
The attack came amid renewed fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, taking place within the broader conflict between Israel and the United States against Iran that has also affected several Gulf states.
Riza said that since the start of the escalation, when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel on March 2, more than 1,500 people in Lebanon have been killed, including 130 children, according to the Health Ministry.
Displacement has also reached “an unprecedented scale.” Some 1.2 million people, or almost a fifth of the population, have been uprooted. This exceeds the scale of displacement following hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that broke out in 2024.
“Many of the strikes that occurred today did not have displacement orders, they did not have warning orders,” he said.
Maternal care under fire
Women and girls make up about half of those displaced in Lebanon and are “bearing an intolerable and unprecedented burden,” said Laila Baker of the U.N. sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, speaking from Beirut.
“I met mothers who fled under bombardment carrying their children with nothing but the clothes on their backs.; pregnant women who spoke of desperately seeking care under fire or giving birth in shelters without support or privacy.”
UNFPA estimates that some 13,500 pregnant women are among the displaced. In southern Lebanon, 1,700 pregnant women are deprived of any essential maternal care and 200 will give birth in the next 30 days, at a time when the health system is also under attack.
Speaking from Cairo, the Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Hanan Balkhy, said that “Emergency, surgical and intensive care services are under great pressure.” in Lebanon, where the agency has also verified 106 attacks on healthcare to date.
Ceasefire opportunity
The UN continues to push for an end to fighting in Lebanon and the wider region, and the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Middle East Conflict arrived in Iran on Wednesday to support peace efforts.
“The ceasefire between the United States and Iran offers an opportunity to prevent further loss of life between Lebanon and Israel,” said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq in New York.
“Now is the time to engage in talks to resolve outstanding differences and work towards a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict. There is no military solution to the conflict.”