UNHCR\u2019s Lebanon representative Karolina Lindholm Billing said on Friday that Israeli strikes and forced displacement orders have affected people living across the country \u2013 from southern Lebanon to the Bekaa Valley, the capital Beirut, and further north.<\/p>\n
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More than 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes since Israel\u2019s intensified attacks against its northern neighbour began in early March, according to UN figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation remains extremely worrying and the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe \u2026 is real,\u201d Lindholm Billing told reporters during a briefing in Geneva.<\/p>\n
She noted that, as displacement numbers<\/a> continue to rise, Lebanon\u2019s already overstretched shelter system is struggling to meet families\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n \u201cJust last week, there were strikes that hit central Beirut, including in densely populated neighbourhoods \u2026 where many people had tried to find safety in collective shelters,\u201d Lindholm Billing said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe families are \u2026 living in constant fear, and the psychological toll, particularly on children, will last far beyond this current escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel launched intensified attacks across Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israeli territory following the February 28 assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n The Israeli military has carried out aerial and ground attacks across the country while issuing mass forced displacement orders for residents of the country\u2019s south, as well as several suburbs of Beirut.<\/p>\n On Friday afternoon, the Israeli military said it had begun a wave of air strikes on Beirut. It also issued more forced displacement orders for several areas in the city\u2019s southern suburbs, including the neighbourhoods of Haret Hreik and Burj al-Barajneh.<\/p>\n Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel and confront Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, with leader Naim Qassem stressing this week<\/a> that the group had no plans to stop fighting \u201can enemy that occupies land and continues daily aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced plans to expand the country\u2019s ground invasion in southern Lebanon, saying the military would create \u201ca larger buffer zone\u201d in Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n Rights groups have condemned the expanded operation and warned that preventing Lebanese civilians from returning to their homes in the south may amount to the war crime of forced displacement.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s tactics of mass expulsion in Lebanon raise serious risks of forced displacement,\u201d Human Rights Watch said<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cForced displacement and collective punishment\u202fare war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n The Israeli military\u2019s destruction of civilian homes and several bridges linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country has also fuelled concerns that Israel is trying to isolate the area.<\/p>\n![\"epa12853726](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/epa_69c68ee3c40f-1774620387.jpg\")
Displaced residents sit outside a tent in a local school in Beirut after fleeing their homes in southern Lebanon, on March 27, 2026 [Wael Hamzeh\/EPA]<\/p>\n