UN Says 400,000 Children Displaced Since Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on Oct. 13, 2024, amid the continuing war between Hezbollah and Israel. AFP via Getty Images

A United Nations official has reported that of the 1.2 million people in Lebanon who have been displaced over the last three weeks because of the “horrendous escalation in violence,” 400,000 are children.

Ted Chaiban, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) deputy executive director, said in a post published on Oct. 15 on social media platform X that it’s a conflict “that has turned into war.”

Though some children have gone to families and relatives, others have been directed to shelters, such as the one Chaiban visited in Zahle, Lebanon’s third-largest city.

At the school-turned-shelter, UNICEF staff worked with children and families on nutritional, psychosocial, and educational support, in addition to providing sanitation and water assistance “for a school that’s not equipped to receive over 400 people,” Chaiban said.

“This helps, and these activities need to be supported and funded,” he said. “But what the country really needs is an end to violations of international humanitarian law.”

This means a cease-fire, he said. “This madness needs to stop.”

Since hostilities between the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group and Israel escalated on Sept. 17, 2024, when Israel launched deadly airstrikes targeting Hezbollah, the World Health Organization says there have been 23 attacks on health care facilities that led to 72 deaths and 43 injuries among patients and health care workers.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it gave evacuation notices for the schools and hospitals that it said were being used by Hezbollah as command centers before launching an airstrike on Oct. 10.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.

The U.N. has accused the IDF of engaging in war crimes in its retaliation against Hezbollah.

The IDF called Hamas’s use of schools and health care facilities as command centers a “further example” of “systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.”

In September, the IDF targeted Lebanese homes where it said Hezbollah operatives were storing arms in its war against Israel.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said the majority of those killed in the airstrikes have been Hezbollah targets.

Before launching the airstrikes, the IDF published evacuation warnings for the Lebanese villagers.

“We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm’s way. Immediately,” it stated. “Hezbollah is endangering you and your families.”

Dan M. Berger contributed to this report.