Lebanon
Operations in Lebanon
Locally hired staff
International mobile staff
Our call:
In light of the already high number of civilians casualties, both killed and wounded, including numerous children, women and healthcare workers:
We remind all parties that civilians and civilian infrastructures must always be protected. Protection of medical staff, medical facilities and patients must also be guaranteed at all times.
Humanitarian and medical assistance must be able to reach those in need across the country, and in most affected areas. While humanitarian actors are adapting modalities of intervention – such as supply distribution within UN-led humanitarian convoys -, we call on parties to the conflict to ensure security and safety measures for humanitarian aid delivery.
Many of the displaced populations are in mountainous regions where the winter will be harsh and severe. While MSF is making efforts to support them, there is an urgent need for aid organizations and local authorities to winterize shelters, provide heating solutions, adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, and distribute warm clothing and blankets to the vulnerable population. We call on the international humanitarian community – and donors in particular – to urgently increase winterization efforts in scope and scale.
We also call on international actors to step up their efforts to reduce the tensions in the region and prevent further suffering, injury, and loss of life, as well as a further deterioration of the already precarious humanitarian situation in Lebanon.
More news on the situation in Lebanon here:
Last update : November 11, 2024
Impact on civilians and internally displaced people
The increase in intensity of the Israeli bombing and the geographical expansion had led to massive displacement, with many families displaced for several times. More than 879,000 people are reported to be displaced in the country and 3,200 have already been killed according to the authorities, surpassing the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. Many MSF staff in Lebanon are displaced themselves. Many individuals are also forced to separate from their families, who are dispersed across the country, as each person seeks a different place to stay.
According to the Lebanese authorities and its Disaster Risk Management Unit, more than 960 of the 1,135 allocated shelters are full (November 2024), and around 80% of internally displaced people are living outside shelters, meaning they do not have access to organized support.
The sweeping so called evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces on a regular basis are affecting entire villages and cities and do not meet the criteria of evacuation orders under IHL. The massive destruction, sometimes of entire villages, means that many people will not be able to return home even after the security situation improves.
Most displaced individuals urgently need assistance, having fled their homes quickly without the essential items necessary for daily life. People are facing increasingly difficult circumstances due to limited access to shelter and essential services. While centers have been established to accommodate displaced individuals in public schools, universities, and private facilities across various regions of Lebanon, the majority of these centers have already reached their maximum capacity.They are not prepared for winter, and lack essential services such as clean water, heaters, or kitchens as they are typically repurposed buildings not intended for accommodation. Dire water and sanitation conditions also create a fertile ground for the spread of infectious diseases, such as diarrhea or skin and respiratory infections, highlighting the urgency to address hygiene, clean drinking water, and medical needs for the people living in them.
The situation is generating a sense of constant fear for safety and has disrupted any sense of normalcy in people’s lives. Our teams are witnessing immense needs for mental health and psychosocial support. Our psychologists and counselors are on the ground, offering psychological first aid to displaced individuals, while our mental health helplines are receiving over 100 calls daily from people facing growing mental health challenges amid the fear and displacement.
Access to healthcare:
The current situation compounds an ongoing humanitarian crisis, exacerbating pre-existing needs. Lebanon is grappling with a severe economic downturn, as consequence, it is estimated that more than half of the Lebanese population is living below the poverty line (UNHCR, March 2024). Like other sectors in the country, the healthcare system was already overburdened by the economic crisis, that has led to the emigration of many of its medical staff and compromised the general capacity and resources of medical facilities. Local health centres, that are already at capacity, are faced with increasing pressure while they try to contend with the growing medical needs of displaced people.
The intense Israeli airstrikes are further disrupting access to healthcare in Lebanon. Since mid-September 2024, the surveillance system for attacks on health care (SSA) reported 44 attacks against healthcare resulting in 63 injuries and 91 deaths, bringing the total of attacks against health care to 103 incidents resulting in 123 injuries and 145 deaths since 8 October 2023. In Baalbek-Hermel, an already underserved area, ongoing airstrikes have forced MSF to close one of our two primary healthcare clinics, which we have operated for 13 years. We have also had to close our clinic in Burj El-Barajneh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, due to continuous airstrikes on the area.
While the crisis is affecting a vast majority of the country’s population, minority groups such as Syrian refugees, migrant workers, as well as elderly and disabled people are at risk of facing even higher discrimination and exclusion, thus reducing their access to healthcare and humanitarian assistance.
MSF’s response:
In response to the recent escalation of the conflict and intense Israeli bombing in Lebanon, MSF has deployed 22 mobile medical teams across various governorates in the country, namely Beirut, Mount Lebanon, South (Saida), North (Tripoli), Bekaa, Baalbek and Akkar, offering psychological first aid, general medical consultations, medication and mental health consultations.
MSF teams are also distributing blankets, mattresses, and hygiene kits, as well as supplying water by trucks in schools and shelters where displaced people have gathered. We have also been providing hot meals and drinking water to hundreds of displaced families.
We are also increasing our support to hospitals across the country. We donated fuel to several hospitals in addition to the trauma kits. Since November 2023, 88 tons of supplies were prepositioned in hospitals and medical facilities across the country, and we have also trained more than 400 healthcare workers in trauma care and mass casualty management in 10 hospitals across Lebanon.
In addition to our emergency response, MSF runs and supports health facilities in six locations, providing general, pediatric, reproductive, and mental healthcare, as well as treatment for non-communicable disease, vaccinations, and health promotion. Some of our regular activities have been disrupted, with some of the medical facilities we are used to supporting have had to close over the past weeks due to intense Israeli airstrikes in the areas. However, despite the challenging context, our teams are doing their best to maintain their regular activities and ensure continuity to healthcare to patients in our projects around Lebanon.
Emergency response
From 25 September to 11 November 2024:
- Medical consultations: 18,594
- Mental health sessions: 3,202
- Mental health helpline calls: 1,755
- Hygiene kits distributed: 18,198
- Meals distributed: 22,342
- Relief items distributed: 13,052 blankets and 10,766 mattresses
- Drinking water distributed: 134,905 litres
- Water supplied to shelters by trucks: 943,000 litres
- Fuel/diesel distributed to hospitals: 54,000 litres to hospitals
- Medical and non-medical supplies donated to hospitals/medical facilities: 1,922 kg
- Hospital workers trained for mass casualty incidents: 300 in 10 different hospitals
MSF history in Lebanon
MSF has maintained a continuous presence in Lebanon since 2008, ensuring access to free healthcare for the most vulnerable communities, including Lebanese citizens, displaced populations, refugees and migrant workers.
Healthcare services provided by our teams span from reproductive health support and mental health and psychosocial support services to the treatment of non-communicable diseases and routine vaccinations for children. In addition, our strategy involves strengthening access to care through reinforcing the capacities of healthcare providers at both local and national levels, aligning with our vision of fostering a sustainable, long-term response. This entails extensive staff training, the donation of essential medicines, incorporating mental health and social work services into these healthcare facilities, medical supplies, and the initiation of capacity-building programs for a diverse range of healthcare facilities throughout Lebanon. Additionally, we are partnering with local organizations and civil society initiatives to amplify community-led initiatives to address rapidly evolving needs.
For more details on MSF’s regular activities in Lebanon and the situation in Lebanon prior to this emergency, please refer to: Lebanon’s Activity Report 2023
Our activities in 2023
outpatient consultations
routine vaccinations
individual mental health consultations
births assisted
Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees, 400,000 Palestinians and over 160,000 migrant workers, many of whom live in precarious conditions. Our teams assist the most vulnerable communities by providing reproductive, maternal and paediatric care, mental health support, treatment for chronic diseases, and routine vaccinations for children through our clinics across the country.
In addition, we are working to reinforce the national healthcare system and support local organisations affected by the socioeconomic crisis. This includes capacity building through training, and the provision of medicines and medical supplies to public healthcare centres, especially in Tripoli, northern Lebanon.
We are expanding collaborations with the Ministry of Health, local partners and other NGOs, such as Positive on Glucose (PoG), who advocate for individuals living with diabetes. With PoG, we conduct peer support sessions and staff training catering to the holistic needs of people with chronic diseases.
In mid-2023, we ceased our surgical activities in Bar Elias hospital, strategically reorienting our services to general care and support to the health system.
During the year, our teams also responded to health emergencies in various parts of the country, including the dire water and sanitation conditions in the northeast, where we offered treatment for water-borne diseases and distributed hygiene kits.
Following the escalation in conflict in southern Lebanon, we sent medical mobile teams to the Nabatiyeh area to address the growing needs of people who had been displaced since October 2023. We also provided trauma care and mass-casualty training in several hospitals across the country. In Ein Al-Hilweh camp, which hosts Palestinians, we treated people injured in armed clashes between rival factions.
In line with our aims to reduce our global carbon footprint, we installed solar panels in our clinics in Baalbek-Hermel.