Islamic Relief distributes aid in Beirut as shelters run out of space and families sleep in the streets

Islamic Relief teams in Beirut have today been distributing emergency aid as thousands more families flee their homes amid the unprecedented escalation in Israeli bombing in the Lebanese capital.  

Our staff report catastrophic scenes, with school shelters at bursting point and thousands of terrified families stranded in the open with nowhere to go.  

Jad Assaf, Islamic Relief’s Senior Humanitarian Programme Officer based in Beirut, says: 

“It’s hard to find the words to describe the situation, but it’s getting worse by the hour. People are camping out in parks, on the beach, or just by the side of the road. Wherever you go there are terrified families who don’t know where to go to be safe.

“Hundreds of schools have been turned into shelters across the country, but many of these are now full to bursting point and are having to turn people away as they have no more space. The bombing is continuing and we fear the numbers of displaced people will keep rising.  

“Conditions in the schools are awful. There are already multiple families sheltering in each classroom and others have to sleep in the playgrounds as there’s no room left inside. There are 100 or more people sharing a single toilet, and no showers. Women and girls have no privacy and have to share rooms and toilets with complete strangers. People had to flee their homes in a hurry, so they have hardly anything with them.   

“Since the beginning of the crisis we’ve been distributing food, hygiene kits, mattresses, blankets and medical supplies. Today we’ve distributed food parcels to 1,000 displaced families who have nothing and are absolutely desperate.

“The numbers of people affected are huge, but it is not about numbers – it is about people. These are real people who are in inhumane conditions.”   

More than 100,000 people have been displaced across Lebanon in just five days, and more are fleeing hourly. Many families fled bombing in the south of the country and arrived in Beirut over the past few days, hoping the capital would be safer, only to suffer the massive escalation in bombing there over the past 24 hours.  

As the crisis escalates, and the massacre in Gaza continues, Islamic Relief says international governments must step up pressure for an immediate ceasefire across the region and end arms sales.  

Islamic Relief has launched a £10 million emergency appeal to scale up its response to the Lebanon crisis. Since the beginning of the crisis the charity has distributed 3,653 food parcels, 2,273 hygiene kits help stop prevent the spread of disease in the shelters, 1,035 mattresses, 1,035 blankets and 6,906 medical items to emergency services.