Israel's war affecting nearly every child in Lebanon, Unicef says

More than 900 killed or injured, more than 400,000 displaced and 1.2 million deprived of education

Children displaced by conflict from southern Lebanon play in the courtyard of the Azariyeh building complex where they are sheltering in central Beirut. AFP

About 1.2 million people and “almost every child” in Lebanon has been impacted by war, the UN agency for children, Unicef, and the World Food Programme said.

Almost 190,000 displaced people are seeking refuge in 1,000 centres from bombardment while “hundreds of thousands” have left their homes to be with friends and family, the UN agencies said after a three-day visit to Lebanon.

“And as the conflict worsens, the psychological toll on the population, particularly among children and youth, is increasing. Almost every child in Lebanon has been impacted in some way. Many have been victims of bombardments, losing loved ones, their homes, access to education and are facing an uncertain future in possibly deeper poverty,” they said.

Israel launched a bombing campaign late last month that has targeted mostly border areas in southern Lebanon but has also struck at areas across the country including the capital, Beirut.

Ted Chaiban, Unicef's deputy executive director for humanitarian actions, who visited schools that have been turned into shelters for displaced families, said: “What struck me is that this war is three weeks old and so many children have been affected.”

More than 100 children were killed and more than 800 wounded, while more than 400,000 have been displaced, Mr Chaiban told Associated Press in Beirut. Most displaced children have experienced so much violence, including the sounds of shelling or gunshots, that they cower at any loud noise, he said.

“As we sit here today, 1.2 million children are deprived of education. Their public schools have either been rendered inaccessible, have been damaged by the war or are being used as shelters. The last thing this country needs, in addition to everything else it has gone through, is the risk of a lost generation,” Mr Chaiban said.

Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said last week that the lives of children in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Israel were being “torn apart in unimaginable ways” by the fighting that began in October last year.

“Children do not start wars and they have no power to end them, yet their lives are devastated by conflict. Tens of thousands of children have died. Thousands more are in captivity, displaced, orphaned, out of school, and suffer trauma from violence and war,” Ms Russell said.

“The deaths and suffering of children are shameful. The daily bloodshed and horror for children are an affront to the most fundamental values of humanity. The violence against children, the most vulnerable among us, must end.”