Resident and Humanitarian’s Remarks to the UN Noon Briefing (Update on humanitarian situation in Lebanon)

Good afternoon,

I am pleased to join you today to update you on the situation in Lebanon and share my impressions from my mission to southern Lebanon yesterday, to mark World Humanitarian Day. Some might recall I was last with you-in person-on 5 October last year… speaking to you about needs in Lebanon and it being off the radar in terms of needed attention and focus. Look at where we are today!

Over the past three weeks, tensions have been at their highest peak. The urgency of de-escalating tensions cannot be overstated. As the UN Secretary-General has said, all efforts should lead to a return to calm across the Blue Line.

Ten months on, nearly two hundred thousand people have been displaced by the exchange of fire across the Blue Line, including more than 110,000 people in Lebanon. Nearly 150,000 people remain within 10 km of the Blue Line, in areas of South Lebanon impacted daily by shelling and airstrikes.

At least 130 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, including the 10 Syrian nationals this past weekend. 21 paramedics and at least three journalists have also been killed.

Yesterday, to commemorate World Humanitarian Day, I travelled to Hebarieh in South Lebanon, to the site of a relief centre where seven paramedics were killed in a March airstrike. As you can imagine it was quite emotional discussing with the mothers of these seven. We keep repeating the message: more needs to be done to end these hostilities, to find a diplomatic-political solution, and-immediately and continuously-to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.

I am here today to speak of the humanitarian situation, our challenges, our needs. And while civilians are, of course, impacted on both sides, I will be speaking of the situation in Lebanon, where I am the HC.

As I briefed you last time, Lebanon was already facing a grim situation of protracted political, financial, and socio-economic crisis before October last year. Now, in 2024, those in need have reached 3.7 million people, including crisis-affected Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians and migrants. The conflict has further eroded the capacity of the State to tackle political, economic and security challenges, and to provide basic services to the population.

In Hebarieh, as in other communities that I have visited over the past 10 months, I have seen and heard the distress of those remaining and those displaced. People’s livelihoods have been devastated. Their access to water, electricity and health care has been affected. Children and parents are suffering psychological trauma; some students are able to access education only online, most not at all.

In this volatile and complex operating environment, the humanitarian community in Lebanon is responding to the needs of the displaced, as well as those remaining in frontline areas, despite insecurity, despite the access challenges and lack of funding.

Our annual appeal for assistance for all of Lebanon is at this point in August only 25% funded. Nonetheless, we have reached 1 million people with assistance and support so far this year, including at least 180,000 people affected by the conflict in South Lebanon.

We continue to do our best to improve our ability to reach people in need, strengthening our coordination, prioritizing our efforts to target the most vulnerable, and negotiating access for assessments and distributions. But we need more resources and funding.

As a humanitarian country team, we need $110 million to finance the ongoing response for up to 290,000 conflict-affected people in Lebanon from August through the end of the year.

Despite the challenges they are facing, I would like to recognize and commend the government leadership on coordinating preparedness and response plans. An important meeting was convened by the relevant national authorities on 7 August bringing together the government, humanitarian partners and the private sector. As agreed then, should there be a further escalation, we will need even more. In terms of preparedness, right now, we are calling for an additional $36.4 million to preposition food, water, medicines and non-food items such as hygiene kits and shelter materials for immediate use in case of escalation.

A full-scale war in Lebanon would be devastating. We desperately need success on the political-diplomatic front.

Thank you.