Displacement and hardship in Lebanon

已複製連結

Around this time, Alia Ismail normally would have been shopping for clothes for her kids and buying meat and sweets in preparation for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan.

"It's such a shame for Ramadan to have passed the way it did, this is a holy month. It passed without us being able to fast or to buy anything. We used to buy Eid sweets and new clothes for our kids and there used to be lots of happiness," Ismail said from a school-turned-shelter in Sidon, where she's been displaced with her family.

"We're now living in hell," she said.

As the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is drawing to an end and Muslims around the world are preparing for the typically joyous holiday of Eid al-Fitr, Lebanon has crossed a grim milestone: Israel's strikes have displaced more than 1 million people in the country, according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 900 people have been killed.

The militant group Hezbollah entered the wider Iran war by firing rockets at Israel. That led to the heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, driving so many from their homes.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah views the latest war as an existential struggle, and Israel is threatening a wider ground invasion and the seizure of territory.

"A lot of the kids that I at least spoke to, their biggest wish was to just spend Eid at home," said Basma Alloush, the MENA Deputy Director of communications for the International Rescue Committee. "Eid is a time where all families come together, people celebrate with their relatives, and it usually brings a lot of peace and joy to families."

The suffering has played out during Ramadan with scenes of people forced to flee their homes reduced to sleeping in tents on the streets or in their cars. Some secured coveted spots in schools and other locations turned into shelters or stayed with relatives as many others scrambled to find makeshift arrangements. Only about 130,000 are in shelters.