UNICEF: More than 400,000 children displaced in Lebanon amid Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah

More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced over the past 3 weeks, a UNICEF official said on Monday, as Israel presses ahead with its campaign against Hezbollah.

Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director for humanitarian actions at UNICEF, warned that the fighting is also taking a heavy toll on the country’s school system. “As we sit here today 1.2 million children are deprived of education,” Chaiban said.

”Their public schools have either been rendered inaccessible, have been damaged by the war, or are being used as shelter. The last thing this country needs, in addition to everything else it has gone through, is the risk of a lost generation,” he added.

The fighting has also impacted access to health care, putting dozens of primary health facilities out of service. In addition, 12 hospitals are either no longer functioning or only partially functional.

Tess Ingram, UNICEF spokesperson for Middle East and North Africa, fears the consequences for pregnant women.

“We know when conflict breaks out often pregnant women lose the support system that they rely on in order to have proper pre-natal care, have the check-ups that they need, if there are any sort of complications, then of course deliver the baby safely,” said Ingram.

”We need to make sure that pregnant women have the essential services that they need to safely see out their pregnancies and to deliver their babies, and then care for the babies once they’re born,” she added.

After a year of cross border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, Israel has been ramping up its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group in recent weeks, including launching a ground invasion in Lebanon.

More than 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, nearly three quarters of them in the past month.

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