in Lebanon, thousands of people “sleep in the streets, without water or food”, warns MSF

The NGO fears a rapid deterioration of the already “fragile” humanitarian situation there as Israeli strikes continue.

In Lebanon, “we are in a context where the humanitarian crisis can develop rapidly”fears Saturday October 5 on franceinfo Jean-François Corty, the president of Médecins du Monde, while the Israeli army carried out new air strikes on Saturday in Lebanon, notably in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the armed Hezbollah movement.

According to figures from the Lebanese authorities, a thousand people have been killed and 1.2 million people have been displaced since September 23, the date the Israeli offensive began. People who fled southern Lebanon, “have nothing left”, some “can sleep in cars when they have them”but thousands of people, “including in Beirut”, “sleeping in the street, without water or food”he laments. Jean-François Corty recalls that“There is a crisis in this country, a fragile public health system”with very expensive private care. “We can have an exponential deterioration of precariousness in an already very fragile country”he insists.

The doctor also insists on the fate of the million and a half “of Syrian refugees and other nationalities” who are in Lebanon. He believes that they are somewhat left out of the protection system deployed in 800 temporary centers, especially for the benefit of the Lebanese population. “Between 100 000 and 150 000″ of these refugees therefore “crossed the border into Syria”, he alerts. “There is a dilemma for these populations between dying under the bombs, or entering into a regime [de Bachar al-Assad] who is waiting for them and who is going to harm them”he said.

He demands that the international community do “ramping up humanitarian and financial aid”because for the moment he judges the humanitarian response “approximate” And “shy”. “We are not at the same level of response as during the explosion in the port of Beirut”compares Jean-François Corty, then “that we have an associative fabric on which to rely”brushing aside fears of aid misappropriation. He indicates that his NGO Médecins du Monde “will strengthen the emergency component in Lebanon”and that the current system currently has around a hundred people.