UN provides urgent food support for one million Lebanese

The World Food Programme said that, it had launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the rising conflict in Lebanon.

“A further acceleration of the conflict this weekend underscored the need for an immediate humanitarian response,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement, announcing that it was distributing ready-to-eat food rations, bread, hot meals and food parcels to shelters across the country.

On Sunday, Israel announced that it had launched fresh airstrikes on numerous Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. This comes two days after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, during bombing raids near Beirut. His death has intensified the nearly year-long cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, which began after Hamas, a Palestinian ally of Hezbollah, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The WFP said that, the bombing in Lebanon is “compounding the fragility of a population burdened by accumulated crises.”

“In just a few days, WFP assistance has reached thousands of newly displaced people,” the programme’s country director for Lebanon, Matthew Hollingworth, said in the statement.

“As the crisis deepens, we are preparing to assist up to one million people through a mix of cash and food support,” he added, calling on the international community to mobilise $105 million to fund the operation through to the end of the year.

“Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another war,” said WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer.