Lebanon crisis: UN launches $426 million aid appeal as ‘limited’ ground invasion reportedly begins

From the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, spokesperson Jens Laerke described chaotic scenes across Lebanon as people continued to flee airstrikes that have killed  more than 1,000 people in the past two weeks alone, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR. 

“We should expect further displacement,” Mr. Laerke told journalists in Geneva.

“We do not have enough supplies, we do not have enough capacity and that’s exactly why we are launching this appeal because we need this additional injection of funds to actually procure it and capacities in place to increase the response which is not where it should be, because we are, as usual, running after the facts,” he continued.

“It’s easy to break things and hurt people but getting them back to some sort of normality takes a long time and costs a lot of money. So that’s why we need to stop this development and de-escalate this conflict as soon as possible.”

UN force ‘in position’

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that it had been informed on Monday about the Israeli military’s plans for “limited ground incursions”.

“Despite this dangerous development, peacekeepers remain in position,” the UN force said in a statement. “We are regularly adjusting our posture and activities, and we have contingency plans ready to activate if absolutely necessary. Peacekeeper safety and security is paramount, and all actors are reminded of their obligation to respect it.”

UNIFIL has around 10,500 peacekeepers from 50 troop-contributing countries. The Mission carries out some 14,500 activities per month, according to its website.

In a statement issued in response to the escalating emergency, the UN Mission highlighted that any Israeli crossing into Lebanon would be “in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701” issued by the Security Council in 2006 aimed at stopping the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed,” UNIFIL said.

Middle East tinderbox

Echoing those concerns, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the widening hostilities in the Middle East had the potential “to engulf the entire region in a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe”.

“Too many innocent children, women and men have been killed, and too much destruction has been exacted,” she said.

In addition to the more than one million people displaced in Lebanon, repeated shelling of northern Israel by Hezbollah that began in response to the Israeli war in Gaza has uprooted some 60,000 people, said OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell.

“With armed violence between Israel and Hezbollah boiling over, the consequences for civilians have already been terrible – and we fear a large-scale ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon would only result in greater suffering.”

She added: “All parties to these conflicts must clearly distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects in the way they conduct hostilities. They must do all they can to protect the lives of civilians, their homes, and the infrastructure essential to their daily existence, as clearly required by international humanitarian law.”

Gaza crisis as bad as ever

Meanwhile in Gaza, almost a year since war erupted following Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple sites in Israel, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, described enormous needs among civilians.

“I can express on behalf of people who speak to me that that they do feel forgotten, and they do feel that their needs are not as important as others and what they need, just basic things food, water, shelter, are completely overlooked in in such devastating circumstances,” said UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge.

“We’re now at 12 months into this war, and I can tell you that 1.9 million people have been displaced…a reported 41,000 people have been killed. I can tell you that 63 per cent of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. But I cannot quantify the horrors that people have endured relentlessly for 12 months.”

Speaking from Amman, Ms. Wateridge described how fear had been “instilled” into the “entire population, every hour of every day” after constant bombardment from land, sea and air.

Despairing doctors trying to save lives in hospitals were working amid the “overwhelming smell of blood…unable to save countless children”, the UNWRA spokesperson said, insisting that the situation in Gaza now “is as bad as it’s ever been”.

“Our ask has remained the same during the last 12 months of war: we need an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and safe and sustained delivery of aid to give families a chance to rebuild their lives.”