The United Nations children’s agency says at least one child a day has been killed in Lebanon over the past month as Israel intensifies its bombing campaign.
“Since October 4 of this year, at least one child has been killed and 10 injured daily,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Thursday and added that “the ongoing war in Lebanon is upending children’s lives.”
The UN agency said “thousands more children who have survived the many months of constant bombings physically unscathed are now acutely distressed by the violence and chaos around them.”
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, 166 children have been killed and at least 1,168 injured since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire across the border in October 2023. The conflict has escalated since August.
Trauma is prevalent among children, who show signs of emotional, behavioural and physical distress.
“UNICEF teams have met children who are gripped by overwhelming fear and increased anxiety, including separation anxiety, fear of loss, withdrawal, aggression, and difficulty concentrating,” Russell said in a statement.
“Many have disrupted sleep, haunted by nightmares, headaches, and loss of appetite. Deprived of the safety, stability, and support that school provides, many of these children are left without the spaces they need to play, learn, and heal.”
“But the true healing can only begin when the violence ends,” she added.
Top United States officials, including President Joe Biden’s Middle East peace envoy, Amos Hochstein, were expected to meet their Israeli counterparts on Thursday to discuss a possible deal to end the conflict in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed optimism about a ceasefire in “the coming hours or days” and Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said the group would accept a truce under certain conditions.
Forced displacement
The talk of a potential truce came as the Israel military issued new orders displacing people from several Lebanese cities.
It warned residents to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon, including the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh near the port city of Tyre.
Rashidiyeh is one of several camps dating back to 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes prior to the creation of Israel, an event known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”.
The military also issued an order on Thursday for the second day in a row for residents to move out of the city of Baalbek and its surrounding areas.
Baalbek, well known for its UNESCO-designated ruins of an ancient Roman town, was pounded on Wednesday hours after the Israel army demanded that people leave the area.