Crisis in South Lebanon: Displacement Amid Intense Airstrikes
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Residents of south Lebanon have begun fleeing north in a renewed wave of displacement as Israeli warplanes pound wide-swathes of the country’s south.
The Israeli aerial assault is the most intense yet, killing over 100 people and wounding over 400 more, including women, children and paramedics, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Monday.
Roads leading out of south Lebanon were choked with traffic as people fled the Israeli bombing. Areas that have served as safe zones for the displaced since last year have now found themselves within the crosshairs of the Israeli military.
BREAKING:
Israel is carpet bombing civilian homes all across South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Videos of collapsed buildings, bombs falling from the sky and resulting explosions that shook camera-people’s hands circulated on social media as people tried to track the extent of Israel’s bombing campaign.
Israeli airstrikes are ‘a genocide in every sense of the word’ says Lebanon caretaker prime minister
Those who have loved ones in the south made public appeals for any empty apartments or rooms that might host their family members who fled Israeli airstrikes. Spontaneous initiatives to provide housing emerged, with individuals marshaling calls for available rooms and hostels offering discounted rates for displaced people.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has called Israel’s wave of airstrikes “a genocide in every sense of the word.”
🚨These are some of the most intense strikes we have seen in Lebanon since 10/7. They are getting absolutely hammered. I am expecting a full day of heavy combat in the North. pic.twitter.com/wbQp246mJV
Najib Mikati made the comments at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beirut on Monday in which he said that Israel’s airstrikes aim to destroy Lebanon’s towns and villages, according to an update from the Associated Press news agency.
Mikati said that the Lebanese government is calling on the United Nations, the UN Security Council and world nations to “deter the aggression.”
Anticipating casualties, Al Jazeera, citing state media, reports that Lebanon’s health ministry has asked all hospitals in the south and east of the country to “stop all non-essential surgery in order to make space to treat the wounded due to the expanding Israeli aggression on Lebanon.”
