LEBANON: Families face uncertainty under bombardment and new evacuation orders

These mass displacements are deepening people’s vulnerabilities, including those of people who have not been able to return home since previous displacements. Ghina, a young person who fled from Odaisseh, on Lebanon’s southern border, is one of the thousands who remain internally displaced since 2023. She now lives with her family in a shelter, known as Montana shelter by its residents, in a town called Marwaniyeh, close to Saida, Lebanon’s third-largest city.

“I came with my family from Odaisseh, and we were amongst the first people who forcibly evacuated our villages [in 2023],” says Ghina, standing outside the shelter. “I have been living in this shelter for almost three years. I lived with my family of five in one room, now an influx of people arrived, and, in some rooms, there are up to 30 people living together.”

Montana shelter used to be a hotel some years ago. Today, it is home for more than 120 displaced families, many of whom have been living here since villages in the south were forcibly evacuated nearly three years ago. But with the latest evacuation orders, many more people have arrived in the past days, overcrowding the shelter and placing further stress on the families there.

Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) mobile medical units regularly visit this shelter, providing general healthcare to its residents. We run similar activities in several other shelters across the country, including in North, Akkar, Bekaa, Mount Lebanon, and Beirut governorates, where hundreds of thousands are seeking refuge.

In the past days, our teams have witnessed a rapid deterioration in living conditions, especially amongst forcibly displaced people. “People are being forced to move once again, and this is taking a toll on their physical and mental health,” says Lou Cormack, MSF country coordinator in Lebanon.

The intensification of bombardments in densely populated areas over recent days, coupled with new blanket evacuation orders, are systemically forcing people from their villages.

When the MSF team arrived on the morning of 12 March to Montana shelter, the families there were still under shock following an Israeli airstrike just 150 metres away the night before. While the airstrike did not cause any casualties and only minor damages to the shelter, families were left scared.

“The Israeli airstrike hit without warning and very close to our shelter,” says Ghina. “The entire shelter trembled, and the children started crying. I am tired of this situation.”

This bombardment occurred just as new blanket evacuation orders were announced by the Israeli forces, spreading further north of Litani River and towards Zahrani River.

“Today, this shelter in Marwaniyeh, along with at least additional seven shelters assigned by local authorities, supposedly in safe areas, are no longer safe,” says Cormack. “They fall under the new Israeli evacuation orders.”

Israel’s expansion of the mass evacuation order to include all areas reaching Zahrani River is targeting a densely populated area, instructing all residents to move up to 50 kilometres away from the Lebanese southern border.

“We are seeing a similarity to what we saw in the past two and a half years in Gaza: broad evacuation orders, constant displacement of thousands of families, and systematic bombing on densely populated areas,” says Cormack. “After 15 months of a fragile ceasefire that failed to stop the violence in Lebanon, families are once again trapped between fleeing or facing bombs.” It is estimated that around 14 per cent of Lebanon’s territory is now under evacuation orders* and that the evacuated areas in Beirut’s suburbs and at the southern border constitute more than 1,300 square kilometres. People from nearly 200 villages and towns were forced to evacuate in less than two weeks.

We have witnessed people fleeing areas that fall below Zahrani River towards the north and are closely monitoring the impact of these new evacuation orders. This time though, more people have decided not to evacuate, often because shelters are full, routes are unsafe, they have no means to move again, or they simply have nowhere else to go – which likely contributes to higher civilian exposure and rising casualties.

At the same time, families are carrying the financial and psychological toll of repeated displacement: the loss of homes and livelihoods, mounting debt, exhaustion, trauma, and a lack of access to care, are all making it harder to cope.

*Reuters: Israeli evacuation orders affect 14% of Lebanon, NGO says | Reuters