Egeland calls for humanitarian corridors to address worsening crisis

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, announced on Friday that he would be flying to the Middle East region immediately to secure cooperation on a three-pronged “humanitarian corridor” plan to safely deliver relief supplies to Lebanese civilians affected by the worsening conflict. “We need diplomatic assistance, vis-à-vis the Israelis. We also need [the militia] Hizbollah and other de-facto forces and armed groups to respect this scheme,” said Egeland. “We need to have respect from all armed actors for it to function. I am very optimistic, that Israel, which so clearly stated that they do not wish to hurt the civilian population, will say yes to a request,” he said. Both the governments of Israel and Lebanon have received a formal request from Egeland to grant safe passage for humanitarian shipments, supplies and field workers. Egeland’s land, sea, and air plan would be to truck humanitarian convoys from Aarida, a northern border town, to the capital Beirut via the still-accessible coastal road. The sea plan would be to create three safe harbours for relief supply shipments in the north, at Tripoli, in the center, at Beirut, and in the south, at Tyre. The air corridor would involve the heavily-bombed Rafik Hariri airport in Beirut. At least one of the two runways would need to be repaired in order to receive cargo planes. With no ceasefire on the immediate horizon, the need for humanitarian corridors is considered vital. Egeland said the conflict, now in its second week, continued to worsen, with Southern Lebanon, Beirut and the Beqaa Valley as the most severely affected areas. Egeland told the UN Security Council open meeting on Friday that of the 300 people reportedly killed and 1,000 wounded in Lebanon, one-third had been children. In Northern Israel, 30 people had been reportedly killed and 200 wounded, including children. Relief agencies estimate that in Lebanon more than half a million people, one third of which are children, were conflict-affected and either displaced or unable to safely relocate. In addition, it was estimated that 100,000 Lebanese had sought refuge in Syria, while some 115,000 foreign nationals from 20 countries still remained in Lebanon. Egeland said the widespread destruction of public infrastructure in Lebanon had complicated the relief effort. “Of particular concern for future humanitarian relief operations was the destruction of roads and bridges linking Beirut to the populations of Southern Lebanon,” he said. Warning that Beirut only had days of fuel remaining, Egeland said that access problems were hampering humanitarian action, by making it either unsafe or physically impossible to move relief supplies into or around large parts of the country due to the destruction. Egeland said he was traveling to the region to assess the humanitarian situation, consult with colleagues and respective authorities and launch an international flash appeal for emergency aid. Meanwhile, Nouhad Mahamoud, Lebanese Envoy to the UN, appealed in the Council for international support. “Lebanon calls upon its brothers and friends around the world to come to its help and rescue, by exerting pressure to stop the aggression, end the blockade, and by providing all forms of humanitarian aid,” he said. Calling it a “festering crisis”, Qatari Ambassador Nassir Al- Nasser called on the council to put an immediate end to the “bloodshed” in Lebanon, but warned that “the continued silence of the council will allow the shedding of more innocent blood.”