“Israel’s ground military incursions into southern Lebanon, its general population displacement orders in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekka region and the entire area south of the Latani River, and its continued airstrikes in different parts of the country are bringing more misery and more suffering to an already tired civilian population”said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon intensify
From the IOM, the UN migration agency, the head of the mission in Lebanon, Mathieu Luciano, described the dramatic deterioration in the country on Thursday night when the Israeli army carried out “multiple airstrikes in the southern suburb of Beirut overnight.”
He added that many collective shelters are at full capacity, especially in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, “so people are simply redirected to other shelters, especially in the north, in Al Qaa, and also to safe places in Bekka.”
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has declared the escalating crisis a major humanitarian emergency requiring an immediate regional response.
UNHCR Emergency Director Ayaki Ito told reporters in Geneva that The conflict is causing significant population movements throughout the region. and towards southwest Asia.
Nearly 25 million people in the affected areas are already refugees, internally displaced or recent returnees, placing additional pressure on fragile host countries.
Bottleneck in Hormuz
The major commercial shipping crisis caused by the war, which has virtually halted all vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz, southern Iran, is already affecting UN agencies and partners seeking to send life-saving aid to Gaza and Sudan, among other emergencies.
The narrow canal carries almost a fifth of the world’s oil along with large volumes of commercial goods.
“All sea traffic has slowed down significantly,” said Anne Schaefer, IOM Deputy Director of Humanitarian Response and Recovery. “This is the case of Port Sudan, but also of other ports on the continent.”
Aid to Gaza is restricted
For Gaza, shelter items, tarps, tents and lamps”Everyone is stuck at different stages, unable to get there now.” he said, before warning of “a significant deterioration of the supply chain very, very quickly.”
The impact on relief missions to Sudan is also of particular concern, as the humanitarian situation “is deteriorating very, very rapidly,” the IOM official continued.
“And of course, the rainy season is right around the corner, so if we don’t get the supplies in the next six to eight weeks, it will be very, very difficult to reach the populations, especially in Darfur.”
Echoing those concerns, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean of the UN health agency, confirmed that much-needed supplies are not transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. But he noted that flights were now resuming from Dubai, which is an important logistics hub for the entire humanitarian system.
Emergency medical care blocked
“We have more than 50 requests for emergency supplies in 25 countries that have been affected by the current pause,” Dr Balkhy said, including Lebanon, Yemen and Somalia.
Back in Geneva, Ms Shamdasani of the OHCHR highlighted the plight of people in Afghanistan, where 66,000 people have reportedly been displaced there as a result of the latest fighting with Pakistan.
“In Pakistan too, shelling and other types of fire have forced people to flee their homes and civilians on both sides of this border now have to flee airstrikes, heavy artillery fire, mortar shelling and gunfire,” he said.