00:00Well, for more on this, we can talk now with Kevin Charbel, who's the head of the Première Urgence Internationale
00:06NGO Mission in Lebanon.
00:08Thank you very much for speaking to us here on France 24 today.
00:11Now, we are seeing reports of thousands of people fleeing villages across southern Lebanon.
00:16Some of these communities only recently returned, of course, after the ceasefire of November 2024.
00:22Could you please give us a sense of the scale of this displacement?
00:28Yeah, hello, and thanks for having me on.
00:30Indeed, I mean, we're entering into a relatively catastrophic situation here over the past three or four days now.
00:36We have the Ministry of Health reporting that there are 77 civilians having been killed so far, with over 500
00:42injured.
00:43We have reports of about 180,000 people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes,
00:49who are congregating in collective shelters and trying to find shelter wherever they can,
00:54as there are too many people so far to even fit in the collective shelters that have been opened for
00:59them by the Lebanese government.
01:00People are leaving with almost nothing to hand.
01:03They lack all basic supplies.
01:05The situation is extremely dangerous in terms of access for humanitarians as well.
01:11In previous conflicts, Israel has targeted humanitarians regularly,
01:15and so our access on the ground is very difficult, and we proceed with extreme caution at the moment.
01:21So you've mentioned that collective shelters are insufficient for the numbers of people who are fleeing.
01:26Where concretely are people fleeing to?
01:32We're moving mostly from the south and the Bika area, which is in the east of the country,
01:37into areas that are considered safer inside the territory,
01:41so further up north in the middle of the territory as well,
01:45trying to find safe shelter anywhere that they can.
01:48So far, there's about 300 shelters that have been opened up by the state.
01:52But again, it's not enough.
01:54People are trying to find safe shelter wherever they can in areas of the country
01:58that are considered relatively safer right now as the conflict expands.
02:03And earlier you mentioned aid organisations on the ground.
02:07How well equipped are those aid organisations to help the increasing numbers of people
02:12being forced to flee their homes?
02:16Well, I mean, we've been preparing for some time for an escalation in conflict,
02:20but, you know, the numbers I just mentioned to you, the scale is immense.
02:25We're doing what we can on the ground, but obviously needs are going unmet.
02:28As I just mentioned, we're getting to the hundreds of thousands of people who are displaced,
02:33over 500 injured and over 70 civilians killed.
02:37So we're doing what we can to support the health services in particular to avoid being overwhelmed.
02:42We're on the ground delivering core relief items to displaced civilians,
02:46which means, you know, things as basic as hygiene kits, blankets, mattresses, pillows,
02:51in order to tide them over in their displacement in the immediate aftermath of having left their homes with their
03:00families.
03:00Now, Lebanon's government is very new.
03:03How much pressure does this new wave of displacement place on the Lebanese state?
03:11Lebanon's government is new, and the economic situation in Lebanon has been dire since about 2019,
03:16when multiple economic crises hit the country.
03:19The country has also been affected by several rounds of conflict as well.
03:24So the resources available to the government are minimal,
03:27despite, obviously, a lot of intention to respond to the needs of their population in this moment.
03:33So it's very essential that international aid organizations are here on the ground supporting those efforts
03:39and trying to step into the gaps that exist on the ground.
03:44Now, Israel says that it gives people sufficient warning ahead of carrying out attacks.
03:49Do their warnings give people enough time to find shelter?
03:56In general, when warnings are given, there is often enough time.
04:01However, a large majority of strikes are not given with warning,
04:06which means it imperils the safety of civilians on the ground and puts at risk the protection of civilian space.
04:13It also impedes humanitarian access into those areas as well,
04:17as the risk of being targeted and the risk of being affected by those bombings is relatively high at the
04:23moment.
04:23So we must proceed with extreme caution.
04:26Now, we've been receiving reports of blasts not only in the south and in the capital, Beirut,
04:31but also in northern Lebanon.
04:33How concerned are you that this could signal a fresh wave of displacement in Lebanon?
04:42It already is creating a fresh wave of displacement.
04:47People are moving to areas that they consider safer away from urban areas
04:52or areas that they consider to be more likely targeted by the Israeli forces.
04:57We have seen over the past couple of days that targeting is reaching specifically urban areas,
05:03very dense areas of population as well, making it almost impossible to guarantee
05:08that no civilians will be caught up in the attacks, unfortunately.
05:12And we have seen over the past days quite a high number of civilian casualties.
05:17So, yes, it's already causing some new displacement.
05:20And I'm almost certain that by this evening, the numbers I just gave you,
05:24which was 180,000, are probably going to be much higher than that.
05:28Kevin Charbel, thank you very much for speaking to us here on France 24 today.
05:31Kevin Charbel, the head of the Première Urgence Internationale NGO Mission in Lebanon,
05:37speaking to us there.
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