By Maya Gebeily and Emilie Madi
BEIRUT, March 31 (Reuters) – Lebanon is preparing for the possibility that hundreds of thousands displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders will not return home in the long term, Lebanese social affairs minister Haneen Sayed said on Tuesday.
Sayed spoke to Reuters after Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the military would destroy all homes along Lebanon’s border with Israel and bar 600,000 residents who fled southern Lebanon from returning to their villages.
More than one million people have fled their homes and another 1,200 have been killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, when Lebanese armed group Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the regional conflict by firing into Israel.
“Long-term displacement is something we are concerned about, of course. We hope it does not happen, but as a government, we have to prepare and think about it,” Sayed said on Tuesday.
The Lebanese government is considering options, including cash-for-rent programs and “physical places where people might go”, but is not planning to construct camps at this stage, she said.
“And it all depends on how much of a land grab the Israelis will insist on, and of course, it’s totally unacceptable for us. I mean, this is a huge violation of our sovereignty, and we will do everything we can to ensure that this doesn’t happen, whatever we have in our means,” Sayed said.
Katz said on Tuesday Israel would maintain control of southern Lebanon up to the Litani river, which runs about 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Lebanon’s border with Israel. The territory south of it makes up nearly a tenth of Lebanese land.
FUNDING ‘NOT EVEN CLOSE’ TO MEET NEEDS
About 136,000 people are now living in collective shelters, and the rest are either staying with loved ones or, in rare cases, on the streets.
Prolonged displacement could trigger social tensions within Lebanon’s diverse communities, as longstanding political and sectarian faultlines have been deepened by Hezbollah’s decision to enter the regional war.
“We already have a very large number, and the space is getting tighter in terms of where people can go,” Sayed said.
Some communities that were willing to host displaced populations in their areas during the last Hezbollah-Israel war in 2024, including in schools or other public buildings, were less willing this time around, she said.
“This is another challenge – ensuring the social cohesion, making sure that people still love each other, if you will. And I mean, I fundamentally do believe the Lebanese have that. And with most of the examples, fantastic examples of the hospitality all over. But at the same time, people’s resources are stretched,” Sayed said.
Her social affairs ministry was trying to plan three months in advance to make sure that displaced families’ basic needs were met, but funding gaps remain a challenge.
During the 2024 war, which lasted just over two months, the United Nations raised $700 million to help Lebanon address the humanitarian fallout and countries sent more than 110 aid flights, Sayed said.
As Lebanon heads into its second month of a new war, it has received just $30 million from the U.N.’s latest appeal, with another $60 million committed by donors. Only seven aid flights have arrived.
“We’re not even close. In the last war, within the first month, there must have been at least 50 flights that had already come in,” Sayed said.
She said some of Lebanon’s traditional donors in the Gulf were grappling with the conflict directly in a way that they were not in 2024, and said rapidly increasing oil prices were impacting how far aid could go.
Sayed said the available aid only covered around 30% of the ministry’s needs.
“Of course, we’re trying all our efforts to make sure that we can at least cover all those that are in shelters. And then the other question, of course, will be the timing. I mean, how long this will last?”
(Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Keith Weir)
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