CHILDREN AT RISK AND TERRIFIED AS CONFLICT ESCALATES IN LEBANON

BEIRUT, 23 September 2024 – At least 21 children are among an estimated 270 people killed, and more than 1,000 injured in Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, with all schools now closing and children terrified, said Save the Children. 

The regional escalation is threatening the lives of more than 345,000 children near the border with families now desperately trying to flee to find safety for their children.  

Jennifer Moorehead, Save the Children Lebanon Country Director said: 

“Our worst nightmare is now becoming a reality. Children in Lebanon have felt the crushing anxiety of a looming war since last October, and in the last few days their lives have been turned upside down, with densely populated neighbourhoods bombed. Today is the deadliest day since last October.  

We’re seeing strikes in dozens of towns, families desperately trying to flee with whatever they can carry, children crying, terrified by the sound of drones and fighter jets above their heads.  Children are telling us that every loud sound makes them jump now. Whenever they hear a door slam or something drop, they get scared and think it’s another sonic boom. It feels like danger is everywhere, and they can never be safe. 

We have staff and partners who have family members stuck in the south, with roads damaged by airstrikes. All schools across the country will be closed from tomorrow, impacting around 1.5 million children, with many schools in major cities and villages now being opened as temporary refugee shelters.  

Many of those fleeing are already vulnerable, including women, children and refugee populations who have been living in displacement for months. This is a major, terrifying escalation but we have to remember that children in the south have been impacted by cross-border violence, living in fear for years. 

Any further escalation of hostilities will mean an unacceptable loss of human life. As always, children will bear the brunt of conflict.  We strongly urge all parties to respect international humanitarian law and to de-escalate this crisis immediately. All parties must protect civilians and focus on diplomatic efforts to bring a lasting peace to all communities in the region.” 

Note to editors: 

• Save the Children has been working in Lebanon since 1953. Save the Children is responding to ongoing needs, particularly for those who have been displaced by the escalation of violence in southern Lebanon. Save the Children has supported 60,000 people, including 24,000 children in collective shelters and host families with cash, clean water, food parcels, learning materials, mental health and psychosocial support, hygiene and cleaning products, mattresses, pillows, blankets to families who fled their homes.

• To calculate the percentage of children who are projected to be affected by cross-border violence, Save the Children used the number of people projected to be affected overall according to the UN, and cross checked it with the UN’s population data. The share of children out of the total population in Lebanon, according to data from the World Population Prospects 2022, Is 32.9%.  32.9% of 1050000 is equal to an approximate number of children totalling 345,450. 

For further enquiries please contact: 

Randa Ghazy, Regional Media Manager for North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe: Randa.Ghazy@savethechildren.org; 

Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409 

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