The violent escalation in bombings in Lebanon this week has already claimed hundreds of civilian lives and injured thousands more. On September 23rd, in 24 hours, Israeli raids killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, making it one of the deadliest days in the country’s recent history. The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation has for almost two decades supported women’s organisations in Lebanon with an office in Beirut, and we express our deepest concern over the exponential increase in violence the past week.
Around 200,000 people have also been forced to flee their homes from the South and the East of Lebanon, and most have no safe or accessible shelter to seek refuge, ending up in hastily made shelters where the most basic services are not available. Some have been left behind with no mode of transportation to escape areas under heavy bombing. For the past year, we have witnessed disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks by Israel in Palestine causing massive killing of civilians and public infrastructure. In Lebanon, Israel is bombing vital services such as hospitals vicinity and ambulances, resulting in the death of four paramedic.
Amid this horrific crisis, families and communities are coming together, opening their homes, and standing in solidarity with one another. Our partner organisations are women-led, self-led grassroots organisations and community-based groups and are mobilising and doing what they can to help civilians.
We stand in solidarity with them—and our colleagues in Lebanon stand at their service—as they are now distributing food, medication, and hygiene kits, and providing support to internally displaced communities, including those who have little to no access to existing forms of aid or shelters.
This escalating violence and the killing of innocent civilians must end in both Palestine and Lebanon and international law upheld. We urgently call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.
—The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation