Hundreds feared dead in Lebanon strikes

The attacks came within hours of the ceasefire announced between the United States and Iran following weeks of deadly hostilities that have disrupted lives, global trade and humanitarian operations in the Middle East and beyond.  

“Today’s wave of IDF strikes came just as hopes for an end to violence and destruction were rising,” the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert tweeted. 

“This cannot go on. Neither side can shoot or strike their way to victory.”  

Hospitals under strain 

Israeli forces reported carrying out over 100 airstrikes in roughly 10 minutes, the top UN aid official in Lebanon, Imran Riza, said in a briefing to journalists in New York. 

He described the scale of bombardment as “dramatic,” saying “it’s been enormous, the level of these strikes.” 

Although casualty figures were not yet available, he said it was believed that hundreds may have been killed and many others injured. 

“The hospitals are overwhelmed, and of course, there’s a huge, huge call out for blood donations throughout the country,” he added. 

An ‘extremely critical’ situation 

Another senior UN official, Blerta Aliko, was speaking to UN News during a pre-arranged interview when shelling intensified in Beirut. She and other staff from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) left their offices and took shelter in the basement.  When the interview resumed, the situation had “become extremely critical.”  

“I personally heard the sound of nine strikes. There have been over 40 strikes in Beirut, and hundreds more across the country,” said Ms. Aliko, UNDP Resident Representative in Lebanon. 

“As of this moment, the Director General of the Red Cross has confirmed more than 300 casualties.”  

Rising displacement 

The assault occurred amid renewed fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, which is taking place within the wider conflict between Israel and the United States against Iran that has also impacted several Gulf States.

Mr. Riza said that since the start of the escalation when Hezbollah launched strikes into Israel on 2 March, more than 1,500 people in Lebanon have been killed, including 130 children, according to the health ministry. 

Displacement has also reached “an unprecedented scale.” Some 1.2 million people, or nearly a fifth of the population, have been uprooted.  This exceeds the scale of displacement following hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted in 2024. 

“A lot of the strikes that happened today did not have displacement orders, did not have warning orders,” he said. 

Maternal care under fire 

Women and girls account for roughly half of those displaced in Lebanon and they are “bearing an unprecedented and intolerable burden,” said Laila Baker of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, speaking from Beirut.

“I met mothers fleeing under the bombardment, carrying their children with nothing but the clothes on their back; pregnant women who spoke of searching desperately for care under fire, or giving birth in shelters without support or privacy.” 

UNFPA estimates that some 13,500 pregnant women are among the displaced. In southern Lebanon, 1,700 expectant mothers are cut off from any essential maternal care and 200 will give birth in the next 30 days at a time when the health system is also under attack. 

Speaking from Cairo, the Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Hanan Balkhy said that “emergency, surgical and intensive care services are under severe pressure” in Lebanon, where the agency has also verified 106 attacks on healthcare to date. 

Ceasefire opportunity 

The UN continues to push for an end to the fighting in Lebanon and the wider region, and the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Middle East Conflict arrived in Iran on Wednesday to support peace efforts. 

“The ceasefire between the US and Iran offers an opportunity to prevent further loss of lives between Lebanon and Israel,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said in New York.

“Now is the time to pursue talks to resolve outstanding differences and work towards a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict. There is no military solution to the conflict.”