Beirut: Displaced Lebanese gathered in front of Sidon Municipality and host schools on Tuesday (September 24) as families from the south clogged the highways fleeing north as Israeli bombardment intensified. Members of Sidon Municipality said they have received 3,000 displaced and have so far opened 14 schools to host them.
Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group have been trading fire across the border since the war in Gaza began last year with an attack by Hezbollah's ally Hamas, but Israel has rapidly intensified its military campaign over the past week.
Exceptional circumstances
"There is no doubt we are witnessing exceptional circumstances today which Lebanon is going through and the south in particular. Since yesterday we have been receiving a large number of the displaced. We opened schools in Sidon today. We opened around 14 schools until this moment. From yesterday we received around 3,000 displaced inside these schools and numbers are climbing. We have approximately the same number of people on roads and in streets, we are helping our kin as much as we can," said a Member of Sidon Municipality and head of emergency operation, Mustafa Hijazi.
Lebanese authorities said 558 people had been killed, including 50 children and 94 women, in Israel's airstrikes on Monday (September 23). A further 1,835 were wounded, they said, and tens of thousands more have fled for safety. “Our situation is like garbage, strikes, planes (hovering), and a war of total destruction," said a Lebanese who was displaced due to Israeli's continuous attack.
Grim situation in hospitals
Volunteers at the Technical Institute of Bir Hassan worked tirelessly to accommodate the displaced, organizing aid supplies, including food, water, and medicine. “At first the numbers were few, up to five o’clock we had thirty families,” said the Amal Movement’s media and emergency security officer, Rami Najem. But the numbers quickly escalated with over 6,000 people seeking shelter in various areas, added Najem.
Among the displaced is Rima Ali Chahine, who described their journey under bombardment. "Yesterday we lived through war...Israel targeted streets, people, civilians, and destroyed buildings," the 50-year-old woman said, her granddaughter Matilda sleeping on a mattress nearby.
For many, the situation is reminiscent of the 2006 war. “Nobody feels good when they have to leave their home amid instability...We are all civilians, and many people martyred while sitting in their homes - women, children, elderly and babies,” said 75-year-old Helme Mahmoud.
Earlier today, an Israeli airstrike targeted a Hezbollah commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, two security sources in Lebanon said, as Israel struck the Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital for a second consecutive day. The sources declined to identify who had been targeted in the strike and said his fate was unknown. The Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted strike in Beirut, giving no details.
The airstrike hit a building in the usually busy Ghobeiry neighbourhood. One of the security sources shared a photo showing damage to the top floor of the five-storey building.
(With inputs from agency)
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