Toll from Israeli bombardment passes 1,000 in Lebanon

Israeli bombs have killed more than 1,000 people and wounded 6,000 in Lebanon over the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. 

The dead include Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah – killed in an Israeli strike on 27 September – and Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, Hamas’ leader in Lebanon. Civilians, including children and aid workers, have also been killed as Israel hit residential areas in its heaviest bombing of Lebanon since its 2006 war with Hezbollah.

On Monday, an apparent Israeli drone struck central Beirut, killing the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Until now, the bombing has mostly been focused on south Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and the eastern Beqaa Valley. 

The numbers of people forced to flee their homes, both from the south and from Beirut’s southern suburbs, continues to grow.

Lebanon’s government says the strikes may have displaced as many as a million people (one in five of the population), and while the latest figures from aid groups put the numbers closer to 211,000 since last October, it is clear that communal shelters are already overcrowded, with some people sleeping in public streets, beaches, and cars.

UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, estimates that around 100,000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria, including both Syrian and Lebanese nationals.

As Israel also bombs Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, there is increasing concern across the region about the possibility of a full-scale war. For more, read: