UN describes Israel’s attacks in Lebanon as ‘deadliest and most devastating in decades’

MADRID 23 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Organization regretted this Friday that the attacks by the Israeli Armed Forces against Lebanon have become the “deadliest and most devastating” in recent decades and has highlighted the “disastrous” situation in Syria as a result of the massive displacements. across the border between both countries.

“In recent weeks, Israel has dramatically escalated its airstrikes and ground incursions, exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe affecting civilians. The last few weeks have been the deadliest and most devastating for Lebanon and its population in decades.” , stated the representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon, Ivo Freijsen.

Freijsen added that the uncertainty prevailing in the country has led to the displacement of around a million civilians in the country – one in five -, of which almost 600,000 people have crossed the border into Syria.

This “mass displacement” has increased not only the danger at the border but also desperation on both sides of it. In fact, UNHCR has highlighted that around 50 Lebanese citizens return to their country every day due to the “disastrous” economic situation in Syria.

“They are coming back because they can’t make ends meet here because they don’t get enough support and they think they could also be better off in Lebanon. These are very, very small numbers. But for us, even small numbers, they are worrying signs,” have apostilled

ATTACKS ON MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL

To all this, we must add the level of destruction of attacks on medical care equipment and infrastructure in the region, as well as attacks on health personnel who operate there, a “distinctive characteristic of the conflict in Lebanon” that “is unprecedented to no level,” stressed the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the country, Abdinasir Abubakar.

“More ambulances are being attacked, and every time an ambulance is attacked, three, four or five paramedics are killed,” he added while recalling that, since October 8 of last year, more than 225 have been murdered. health workers in Lebanon and that “47 percent of these attacks on health care have been fatal.”

This “is a higher percentage than in any other conflict,” he said, before highlighting that the global average in conflict zones during the last year is around 33 percent.

In total, as reported by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health this Friday, at least 3,645 people have died and another 15,355 have been injured as victims of attacks carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over the last year.

The resurgence in hostilities is part of the clashes that began more than a year ago, after Hezbollah attacked Israeli territory following the attacks carried out on October 7, 2023, which led the Israeli Army to unleash a bloody offensive against the Gaza Strip. Gaza, where more than 44,000 people have already died. Additionally, more than 790 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.