As Israeli raids continue despite the ceasefire, the Lebanese government is struggling to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the population while international aid remains insufficient. Since the outbreak of war, a fifth of Lebanese people, or 1.2 million people, have been forced to flee their homes.

Published on: 05/01/2026 - 2:08 p.m.

Nearly two weeks after the ceasefire announced by the Trump administration, Lebanon is still in a critical situation. Israeli bombings, which continue unabated, left 17 dead again on Thursday April 30, while the Jewish state continues to erect an uninhabitable buffer zone in the South, claiming to want to protect its territory from attacks by pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

“Israeli violations persist in the South despite the ceasefire, as well as the demolition and razing of houses and places of worship, while the number of victims climbs day by day,” denounced President Joseph Aoun in a statement.

Since March 2, Israeli operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah have left 2,500 dead and 1.2 million displaced, according to an official report. Refugees who find themselves overnight without a job, without a home, or with no prospects for the future.

"These displaced Lebanese find themselves on the street or with family for those who are luckier. The government has also opened schools to welcome them. These are people who no longer have a home or no longer have access to it. They need everything: clothes, food, health care...", explains Sami Fakhouri, spokesperson for the Red Cross and Red Crescent, on France 24.

Also read “I gave up everything for my grandchildren”: in Beirut, the displaced exhausted by an endless war

Asked about the death of three Lebanese rescuers on Wednesday in an Israeli strike, he recalled that it is "very complicated to work for humanitarians, this is the case in all countries in crisis but particularly in Lebanon where two Red Cross volunteers lost their lives doing their work, not to mention several injured".

A billion dollars to deal with the emergency

According to a study published Wednesday by UN organizations and the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, more than a million Lebanese are threatened with acute food insecurity.

“This deterioration is due to conflict, displacement of people and economic pressures,” adds the report, which warns that the situation risks getting worse.

Many people are "replacing meat with pasta and potatoes. Everything has become too expensive [...]. Some agricultural land has been abandoned and supply circuits are disrupted", explains our correspondent Serge Berberi, who reports several testimonies from Lebanese people. “A mother told me that 100 dollars is no longer enough to fill a shopping cart. Despite the truce, the humanitarian crisis continues to take hold in daily life.”

Also read: Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil killed by Israeli strike in southern Lebanon

Already hard hit by the 2024 conflict and plunged into an economic slump, Lebanon faces an insoluble financial equation with decreasing revenues and increasing needs. According to Bloomberg, the authorities therefore requested an emergency loan of between $800 million and $1 billion to help those hardest hit by the conflict.

Because for the moment, despite requests made to international financial institutions and friendly countries, the account is not there. As RFI explains, the amount of international aid remains much lower than the 720 million dollars obtained during the previous conflict with Israel.

To deal with the most urgent situation, the authorities are considering reviewing budgetary priorities. Loans already granted for infrastructure projects could be redirected while the government has slowed the rise in public sector salaries.

“The fate of the Lebanese is not in their hands”

On the ground, hope for lasting peace seems slim. On Thursday, Donald Trump announced direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel "within two weeks", the result of preparatory meetings held in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors.

“Lebanon is at a turning point. Its people have the historic opportunity to take back control of their country and forge its future as a truly sovereign and independent nation,” argued the American embassy in Beirut on X, calling for a direct Aoun-Netanyahu meeting. “The time for hesitation is over,” she believes.

But the Lebanese government set several conditions for these direct discussions, in particular the cessation of Israeli attacks or the Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories and the abandonment of the "buffer zone" in the South, recalls L'Orient-Le Jour.

Also read: How the Israeli occupations of South Lebanon strengthened Hezbollah

On the political ground, the gap is widening between the Lebanese president, determined to carry out these negotiations, and Hezbollah, which opposes them and intends to continue its attacks against Israel. A divide which complicates any lasting settlement of the Lebanese crisis.

“This country, as we speak, is on the verge of civil war. The subject is: how the Lebanese authorities can be supported to enforce peace and so that the Lebanese can finally live in peace,” said French Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin, on Tuesday on BFMTV.

“The problem is that we have not succeeded so far in building a state worthy of the name and insulating Lebanon from the wars of the main regional axes,” comments Karim-Émile Bitar, professor at Sciences Po and at Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, on France 24. "There is such an outbreak of madness and violence on an international scale that we could be drawn into this whirlwind. Let us not minimize the risk [of civil war, Editor's note], but continue [...] to try to restore an impartial State sufficiently solid to resist all aggressions, wherever they come from."

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