Lebanon facing deadliest period in a generation

Lebanon facing deadliest period in a generation, The UN said Friday that Lebanon is going through its most dire period in years as Israeli attacks against Hezbollah fighters have intensified “devastatingly,” leaving hospitals overflowing with dead and wounded.

• Hospitals are overwhelmed with significant injuries, including many children
• The health sector is struggling to meet the surge in medical demand

UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza said, “The recent escalation in Lebanon is nothing short of devastating.”

Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in a deadly cross-border firefight since the October 7 resistance against Israel by the Iran-backed Palestinian ally Hamas.

Nearly a year after starting its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has shifted its focus to the northern front with Lebanon.

The UN Children’s Fund said Lebanon bombings are killing children “at an alarming rate.”

UNICEF Lebanon representative Edouard Beigbeder said, “Children are being killed and injured at an alarming rate in attacks on Lebanon,” according to a statement. The situation has “gone from a crisis to a catastrophe. The suffering of children must end,” Beigbeder said, calling for an end to the fighting.

Since Monday, Israeli warplanes have bombed Hezbollah positions across the country. More than 700 people have been killed and about 6,000 injured, according to the Health Ministry.

Citing the ministry, UNICEF said 50 of those killed on Monday and Tuesday were children.

Israel has widely blamed hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies for the attacks that last week exploded across Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding about 3,000, but the country has declined to comment. “We are living through the most tragic period in Lebanon in a generation and many have expressed concern that this is just the beginning,” Riza told reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut.

He noted that the death toll on Monday alone represents roughly half of the 1,200 people killed during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

“The level of displacement, the level of trauma, the level of panic was enormous,” he said.

At the same time, Riza warned that Lebanon’s health sector is “totally overwhelmed.”

“The events of the last week, including the explosion of communication equipment, have almost depleted medical supplies,” he said.

“Given the recent escalation and limited hospital capacity, the system is struggling with limited resources to meet growing demand.”

World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris agreed, saying Lebanese hospitals are “overwhelmed.”

She noted that the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies caused many serious injuries, especially to the eyes and hands, which required special treatment. Harris said 777 injured people are still in hospitals after the attacks, “152 of them in critical condition.”

“That means they won’t be able to leave the hospitals for a while, and there are bombings and explosions every day, and beds are full, not free.”

At the same time, 37 medical facilities across Lebanon have been closed because of the event.

Harris stressed that aid agencies have done a lot of preparations for the possibility of mass casualties in Lebanon if last year’s cross-border firestorm intensifies.

The WHO has helped “train most of the medical workers in most of the hospitals to respond to mass casualties,” she said. But “our planning scenarios barely took into account the number of people who would actually be affected.”

“It was way beyond what anyone would have anticipated in normal planning, even for such a horrific event.”