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STORY: :: The U.N. refugee agency says a quarter of Lebanon is under Israeli evacuation orders

:: October 15, 2024

:: Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR Middle East Director

“That in a country of that size, which is relatively small, and a population that's estimated around 5 million people, you can imagine how dramatic it is that over 1 million people are now without shelter and on the move, or not rather without shelter because they are being housed in collective centres, but are being forced to flee their homes in search of safety. And Israeli airstrikes and Israeli evacuation orders continue to increase the areas impacted. So now that we have over 25% of the country under a direct Israeli military evacuation order. Just yesterday, we had another 20 villages issued with an evacuation order in the south of the country.”

Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,309 people over the last year, the Lebanese government said, and more than 1.2 million have been displaced.

The majority have been killed since late September when Israel expanded its military campaign. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel expanded its bombing campaign in Lebanon on Monday (October 14), killing at least 22 people - most of them women - in an airstrike in the north on a house where displaced people were seeking refuge from Israeli strikes further south, health officials said.