MADRID Nov. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations has declared this Saturday that the destruction in Lebanon due to the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign against the country already exceeds that recorded in the very violent armed conflict fought by both parties in 2006.
In mid-July of that year, a Hezbollah ambush on a group of Israeli soldiers triggered four weeks of fighting that left some 2,000 Lebanese dead, more than half of them civilians. More than 150 Israeli military personnel and 40 civilians died in this conflict.
However, these figures have been exceeded by the year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel since October 8, 2023, a day after the massacre committed by Palestinian militias in Israeli territory, which left 1,200 dead and opened the doors to a campaign Israeli military in the Gaza Strip that has already left more than 43,000 Palestinians dead.
The Government of Lebanon estimates that there are 2,867 dead and more than 13,000 injured by the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon, accelerated last month by an invasion of Israeli forces in the south of the country (as already occurred in 2006) and a wave of bombings on the south of the capital, Beirut, alleged Hezbollah stronghold; a balance that exceeds that of the armed conflict of almost 20 years ago.
Authorities estimate that there are 178 children among the dead and 1,178 minors injured. The number of internally displaced people is approaching 845,000 and at least 85 health workers have died under shelling.
“The death toll has been exacerbated by the destruction of critical infrastructure, including healthcare, and many hospitals are overwhelmed and blood donations are urgently requested to address the critical influx of victims,” according to the latest report. from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published this Saturday.
The humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, has condemned the attacks against civilians and infrastructure and called for the immediate cessation of hostilities to protect vulnerable populations.
The United Nations finally warns that the rampant economic crisis that the country was going through before the outbreak of the conflict will accelerate the current food insecurity, which “will worsen significantly due to the intensification of the conflict and economic tension.”
The UN recalls in this regard that, between April and September 2024, 1.3 million people, or 23 percent of Lebanon’s population, faced high levels of acute food insecurity, including 85,000 in conditions of emergency.
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