Israeli strikes and mass evacuation orders have seen nearly 700,000 people flee their homes in Lebanon in just over a week, with more than 100,000 fleeing in 24 hours, the UN said Tuesday."Lives have been upended on a massive scale," said Karolina Lindholm Billing, the representative in Lebanon of UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.
In just over a week since the new escalation in Lebanon, Israeli air strikes and evacuation warnings to residents of dozens of villages "forced families across Lebanon to flee within minutes", she told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Beirut.
She pointed out that "more than 667,000 people in Lebanon have now registered on the (Lebanese) government's online platform as displaced".
"This is an increase of 100,000 in just one day," Lindholm Billing said, stressing that this is "a faster pace of displacement compared to 2024", during Israel's last war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working to "collapse" the state and expressed Beirut's readiness for "direct negotiations" with Israel.
Lebanese authorities said on Monday that Israel's attacks since March 2 have killed at least 486 people and wounded at least 1,313.
The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said Tuesday that 84 of those killed were children.
AFP has not been able to carry out a detailed breakdown of the figures.
- 'Fled with almost nothing' -
Lindholm Billing said that around 120,000 of those displaced in Lebanon were sheltering in government-designated collective sites, while many others were staying with relatives or friends, or still searching for accommodation.
"Many -- often displaced for the second time since the hostilities in 2024 -- fled in a rush with almost nothing, seeking safety in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, northern districts and parts of the Bekaa," she said.
Many were also making their way to neighbouring Syria.
More than 78,000 Syrians had returned to their home country from Lebanon since the latest war began, while over 7,700 Lebanese had also crossed the border, Lindholm Billing said, citing Syrian authorities.
She said UNHCR was rushing to replenish its country-level stocks of essential items in Lebanon, but the agency's operations in the country were currently only 14 percent funded.
"Fast and sustained international solidarity is critical to enable us to support the Lebanese government and authorities in responding to the emerging needs," she said.
"Every day this conflict continues, more suffering is inflicted on hundreds of thousands of civilians, while Lebanon and the region are further destabilised."
