Lebanon Humanitarian Fund - First Reserve Allocation 2024 Strategy Paper

Section 1: Strategic Statement

Lebanon is facing its most severe conflict escalation since the 2006 Lebanon War, directly affecting and/or displacing over one million people. The intense military escalation and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation is putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people at risk, including Lebanese, displaced Syrians, Palestine refuges and migrants. Most displaced people require urgent assistance having had to flee their homes rapidly without the basic items they need for daily life.

The Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) is launching a $12 million emergency allocation to address the immediate lifesaving needs of those most impacted by the conflict, with a focus on delivery of timely, flexible aid to those recently displaced, including those in collective shelters across Lebanon. Assistance will be delivered by best-placed NGO partners providing multi-sectoral services to those most vulnerable profiles of people including people with disabilities, women at risk of gender based violence and children at risk. This allocation, alongside a $10 million CERF disbursement, will kick-start funding for the $424 million Flash Appeal launched on 1 October 2024, enabling coordinated, rapid, and multi-sectoral interventions through NGO partners to address urgent life-saving humanitarian needs across core lifesaving sector.

Through the allocation, the LHF aims to further promote a localized response in directly funding national NGOs to the extent possible - both large NNGOs with large countrywide coverage and smaller NNGOs with targeted areas of programmatic focus and geographic coverage - best placed to deliver timely, impactful response to people in need.

Section 2: Humanitarian Context

The recent escalation of conflict in Lebanon has created a dire humanitarian situation, marked by significant loss of life, widespread injuries, and large-scale displacement.

Since October 2023, over 10,200 attacks have occurred along the Blue Line, resulting in substantial casualties. More than one million people have been directly affected and/or displaced across Lebanon, with nearly 160,000 in over 850 collective shelters, often in public facilities like schools and agricultural centers.

According to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the death toll since October 2023 has reached 1,640, including 104 children and 194 women, with 8,408 wounded. Many bodies remain under rubble, and numerous people are still missing. Displacement to Syria has also surged, with over 100,000 crossing the border in recent days.

The deteriorating security situation poses grave risks, particularly in densely populated urban areas where 90% of Lebanon’s population resides. Infrastructure damage includes the destruction of thousands of buildings, the impairment of 25 water facilities affecting 300,000 people, and the closure of 37 health facilities. Vulnerable groups, such as older people and those with disabilities, are at heightened risk, and essential services—shelter, food, water, and healthcare—are severely disrupted.

This response aligns with the Humanitarian Country Team’s (HCT) Flash Appeal seeking $424 million to sustain response efforts. The Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) is providing flexible funding to strategic NGO partners for rapid, life-saving interventions, ensuring a coordinated response aligned with inter-sectoral mechanisms and complementing government-led efforts.

Immediate actions are needed to expand shelter capacity, improve conditions in existing shelters, and supply essential items to meet the urgent needs of displaced populations and host communities.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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