Israeli orders for military evacuation of the population in Lebanon currently apply to more than a quarter of Lebanese territory. This was announced at a briefing in Geneva by the head of the Middle East Department of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Rema Jemus Imseis.
“More than 1 million people are now displaced in Lebanon,” she said, describing the situation as “dramatic” and recalling that we are talking about “a relatively small country with an estimated population of 5 million.” Israeli airstrikes and orders evacuation orders lead to an expansion of the area affected (by the fighting). More than 25% of the country is now under direct Israeli military evacuation orders,” the UNHCR representative explained. According to her, on October 14, “another 20 villages in southern Lebanon received such an order.” People are "heeding these calls to evacuate" and leaving their homes with "virtually nothing." Many of them are forced to sleep in the open air. The issue of providing shelter to these people is of "great concern" to UNHCR. In total, there are more than a thousand places designated by the Lebanese government to accommodate displaced persons, and more than 800 of them are now completely occupied.
“The needs are enormous and growing every day,” said Rema Jemus Imseis, stressing that “a ceasefire is the only way to stop this nightmare.”
On September 23, Israel launched Operation Arrows of the North against the formations of the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, during which it carries out massive strikes on the organization’s military targets. The stated goal is to create safe conditions in the northern border areas of the Jewish state so that tens of thousands of residents can return there. As a result of one of the Israeli strikes on September 27, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrullah was killed in Beirut. On the night of October 1, the Israeli army announced a ground operation in the border areas of southern Lebanon.