Homes destroyed by Israeli bombings on September 2, 2026, on a street in the city of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon. Photo by Matthieu Karam / L’Orient-Le Jour
The head of the U.N.'s humanitarian operations, Tom Fletcher, has announced the "end" of the U.N.'s flash humanitarian appeal for Lebanon, which was launched in March following the re-escalation of Israel's war on Lebanon, lamenting that it was "only half funded." The appeal included an initial allocation of $325 million aimed at helping populations affected by the conflict.
"We optimized every available dollar, which allowed us to provide life-saving aid to 1.2 million people since March," the U.N. official stated on X. He then warned that the "crisis is not over": "Needs persist, access remains limited, and many families still cannot return home safely."
Specifically, according to data published by the U.N. on its website, 339,000 displaced people in shelters received aid, and 898,000 others outside these centers. Additionally, aid reached 130,000 people in "hard-to-reach" areas, and more than 300,000 children. The assistance primarily involved food and health care, benefiting more than half of the targeted vulnerable individuals, but also covered education and protection. Cash assistance reached more than 900,000 people. Most of the aid recipients were concentrated in the Baabda district (over 238,000 people), followed by Sour (190,000) and Nabatieh (113,000). By comparison, only 15 people received aid in the Bsharri district and 72 in Batroun, Christian areas in North Lebanon which received relatively few displaced persons.
Hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced in Lebanon to this day, compared to more than one million at the height of the war. Israel continues destroying homes and infrastructure in the vast territory of more than 600 square kilometers that it occupies in southern Lebanon. According to the Health Ministry, since Oct. 8, 2023, and the outbreak of the war, Israel has killed nearly 9,000 people in Lebanon.
