International Rescue Committee - Emergency Situation Report: Lebanon Crisis, 22 November 2024
RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS
- Over 15,500 services & 58,000 items provided to IDPs
- Healthcare services to over 2,900 IDPs in Akkar
- ~2,700 individuals received core relief items in BML & North
- Emergency Case Management to 250+ IDPs
(IDPs include Lebanese, Syrians & other vulnerable communities)
SITUATION OVERVIEW
On 26 November, a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel was announced. Coming into effect on 27 November, the agreement stipulates a 60-day cessation of hostilities, which negotiators have described as the foundation of a lasting truce, ending nearly 14 months of hostilities.
Prior to this announcement, the reporting period was marked by continued Israeli attacks on heavily populated areas across Lebanon. In particular the South, Nabatieh, Bekaa, Baalbek El-Hermel and Mount Lebanon governorates. The conflict has continued to claim lives and forcibly displace communities. This reporting period also witnessed for the first time since the beginning of hostilities attacks on Akkar, northern Lebanon with more than 12 people reportedly killed.
Inadequate evacuation orders have continued to be issued at short notice, sometimes in the middle of the night and via social media — when many people in areas impacted — would be asleep or offline. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, more than 3,700 individuals, including 240 children, have been killed, and over 15,600 injured, by Israeli airstrikes since October 2023.
The health system remains on the brink of collapse, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that 47% of recorded attacks on healthcare – 65 out of 137 – have resulted in at least one health worker or patient being killed in Lebanon as of 21 November 2024. This is the highest percentage of any active conflict worldwide, according to WHO.
In the South, widespread destruction in dozen border villages has been reported, creating uninhabitable land, and leaving thousands of families without homes and destroying their farms and agricultural lands. At the time of writing, the number of displaced people, including those internally displaced within Lebanon and those who have been forcibly displaced into Syria, has reached more than 1.3 million people.
