The world is bracing for more refugees
Israeli officials have said the ground offensive in Lebanon and the week of heavy bombardment that preceded it aim to push Hezbollah back from the border and allow residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
The Lebanese militant group began launching rockets into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, one day after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel and ensuing Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling, and the two sides were quickly locked into a monthslong, low-level conflict that has escalated sharply in recent weeks.
Lebanese officials say that more than 1 million people have been displaced. Palestinian refugees are a relatively small but growing proportion. At least three camps—Ein el Hilweh, el Buss and Beddawi—have been directly hit by airstrikes, while others have received evacuation warnings or have seen strikes nearby.
Dorothee Klaus, UNRWA’s director in Lebanon, said around 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been displaced from camps in the south.
UNRWA was hosting around 4,300 people—including Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees as well as Palestinians—in 12 shelters as of Thursday, Klaus said, “and this is a number that is now steadily going to increase.”
The agency is preparing to open three more shelters if needed, Klaus said.
“We have been preparing for this emergency for weeks and months,” she said.
Refugees are desperate and making do
Outside of the centre in Sebline, where he is staying, Lebanese citizen Abbas Ferdoun has set up a makeshift convenience store out of the back of a van. He had to leave his own store outside of the Burj Shemali camp behind and flee two weeks ago, eventually ending up at the shelter.
“Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians—we’re all in the same situation,” Ferdoun said.
In Gaza, UN centres housing displaced people have themselves been targeted by strikes, with Israeli officials claiming that the centres were being used by militants.
Some worry that pattern could play out again in Lebanon.
Hicham Kayed, deputy general coordinator with Al-Jana, the local NGO administering the shelter in Sebline, said he felt the international “response to the destruction of these facilities in Gaza was weak, to be honest,” so “fear is present” that they might be similarly targeted in Lebanon.
Sharari said she feels safe for now, but she remains anxious about her father and others who stayed behind in the camp despite the warnings—and about whether she will have a home to return to.
She still follows the news obsessively but now, she said, “I’m following what’s happening in Gaza and what’s happening in Lebanon.”