<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>4 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Lebanon faces \u201ca moment of grave peril\u201d as Israel continues to launch deadly attacks across the country, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the United Nations humanitarian chief has warned.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher said \u201cmass displacement is accelerating\u201d across Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing large-scale movements into densely populated urban areas where shelter capacity is already overstretched,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of shelters \u201care overcrowded, with inadequate sanitation [and] insufficient essential supplies\u201d, he told the council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese conditions heighten risk of harassment, sexual violence, exploitation, abuse [and] trafficking, particularly, of course, for women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lebanese authorities said more than 816,000 displaced people had been registered across the country since the intensified Israeli attacks began last week. Of those, 126,000 people were residing in 589 collective shelters.<\/p>\n<p>Israel began carrying out intensified attacks on Lebanon last week after Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israeli territory following the assassination of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks on February 28.<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli military has launched a widespread aerial and ground assault against its northern neighbour, bombing areas across the country in what it says is a campaign against the Lebanese armed group.<\/p>\n<p>Israel also has issued forced displacement orders for all of southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, sowing chaos as thousands of families fled their homes under fear of attack.<\/p>\n<p>At least 634 people have been killed and 1,586 others wounded in Israeli attacks so far, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The death toll includes dozens of women, children and paramedics.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday afternoon, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a volunteer named Youssef Assaf was killed in the southern city of Tyre while carrying out humanitarian work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is deeply alarming that first responders in Lebanon continue to risk their lives while carrying out a humanitarian mission,\u201d ICRC said in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ICRC\/status\/2031736514867032567\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement<\/a> shared on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHealthcare workers, hospitals, and other medical units, as well as ambulances and other transports exclusively assigned to medical duties or purposes, must be respected and protected.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"whole-world-on-fire\">\u2018Whole world on fire\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, concerns are growing about the fate of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians, particularly children, who have been displaced in recent days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt sounded like thunder,\u201d a 10-year-old boy named Adam said of the attacks that forced him and his family to seek safety at a shelter in Beirut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt like the whole world was on fire,\u201d Adam said in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UNICEFmena\/status\/2031683784492425552\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a video<\/a> shared online by the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF). \u201cMy heart was pounding. I was crying in fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera\u2019s Bernard Smith, reporting from the Lebanese capital, noted that the vast majority of people who have been displaced are not in public shelters but are sleeping anywhere that can provide some protection.<\/p>\n<p>That includes abandoned buildings and schools, as well as makeshift tent encampments along Beirut\u2019s Corniche, Smith said.\u00a0\u201cFor those displaced, [there is] no education for the children, no chance to go home, and no chance to get life back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Othman Belbeisi, the Middle East and North Africa director at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said resources are limited as humanitarian agencies and the Lebanese authorities try to respond to the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we are seeing is that safe areas are becoming less [safe] \u2026 and more people are displaced in the streets,\u201d Belbeisi told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of the displaced families left only with their clothes [on their backs],\u201d he said. \u201cThey left everything at home; they ran out for their lives. There is fear and a high level of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a04 mins info Lebanon faces \u201ca moment of grave peril\u201d as Israel continues to launch deadly attacks across the country, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the United Nations humanitarian chief has warned. Speaking to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, Tom Fletcher said \u201cmass displacement is accelerating\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}