Qabr Chamoun, Lebanon — High in the hills of Mount Lebanon, about an hour from Beirut, a school has been converted into an emergency shelter for families forced from southern Lebanon by recent Israeli strikes. Play equipment lies unused in the yard, clothes are strung between windows and classroom desks have been pushed aside to make room for mattresses.
“It’s very difficult,” said Aymane Malli, 49, holding the hand of his five-year-old son, Jad. Malli is one of roughly 100 people taking refuge at the Qabr Chamoun school after fleeing Habbouch, near Tyre, with his wife and five children when bombardment intensified on March 2. “For me, it’s OK because I have to survive. I have to take care of my family,” he said.
Across Lebanon, schools, public buildings and makeshift sites are filling as families flee the south. In late November 2024 a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect after more than a year of cross-border fighting, but the agreement was repeatedly breached, with the United Nations documenting thousands of violations. In recent weeks Israel expanded strikes and launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked in response to a US-Israeli airstrike on February 28.
Lebanese authorities say the latest attacks have killed more than 1,300 people, including about 120 children, and have driven more than 1.1 million people from their homes as evacuation orders and air raids push civilians northward.
“There were strikes around us,” recalled Bilal Hussein, 42, a chef who fled Tyre with his wife and children in the first hours of the bombardment. Their escape became a two-day, traffic-clogged journey north; the family slept in their car while Bilal kept driving. “I didn’t sleep for two days,” he said. “We want to go back to our homes, our city. It’s our place.”
Aid organisations say Qabr Chamoun’s situation is mirrored nationwide: many families arrive in the mountains only to be turned away because shelters are full. Action Against Hunger told Al Jazeera that more than 400 people were turned away at the Qabr Chamoun school and that the group is supporting more than 43,000 displaced people across 247 collective shelters.
“Despite our efforts and those of the humanitarian community, major gaps remain,” said Suzanne Takkenberg, the charity’s regional director. She warned that many displaced people are living in informal sites or on the streets and that reduced funding is limiting the speed and scale of the response.
Conditions inside some shelters are deteriorating. Water leaks through ceilings and walls in certain buildings. Children are falling ill with gastrointestinal problems and eye infections. Inadequate facilities for cleaning bottles and utensils are contributing to diarrhoea and vomiting among infants. “These are not isolated cases; they are the reality for displaced families across the country,” Takkenberg said. She added that the most vulnerable — children, older people and people with disabilities — are hardest hit, and that one in five displaced people is a child.
Damage to infrastructure, including bridges and access routes across the Litani River, has increased the isolation of southern Lebanon and made it harder for families to flee. Damage to farmland and supply routes is also beginning to affect food production and access, raising concerns about longer-term food security.
Signs that Israeli officials are considering a prolonged security presence or occupation of parts of southern Lebanon have left many displaced residents uncertain whether they will ever be able to return. “It’s not the material things I worry about leaving behind,” said Mohammed al-Mustafa, a sweets seller from Tyre sheltering in Qabr Chamoun. “It’s the memories. We lived in that house for 40 years. Old photographs, our lives. We hope we can go back and find them.”