Despite international calls for a 21-day ceasefire last week, Israel continues to strike residential buildings and neighborhoods across Lebanon.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Israel’s devastating attacks on Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people in one week, while 2,011 people were killed and over 9,000 wounded since October 2023. These numbers do not yet include the death toll from the barrage of bombs that hit Dahiya when Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah’s Secretary-General, on Friday, Sept. 27, nor does it include the toll from the airstrikes on Oct. 3 when Israel attempted to assassinate Nasrallah’s potential successor, Hisham Safi Al-Din. Given the magnitude of both attacks and Israel’s relentless bombing campaign on the nation’s capital, the numbers have yet to be confirmed.
Families in eastern and southern Lebanon are fleeing to the capital with few belongings. Residents living in Beirut’s southern suburbs are given less than half an hour to evacuate the premises after official Israeli military media channels issue warnings—if at all—of incoming aerial strikes. All along the Corniche, Beirut’s seaside, children are sleeping on blankets, abandoned domestic and migrant workers are fending for themselves, and volunteers are scrambling to find shelter for the displaced. Although the Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi ordered public schools to use their premises as shelters and donation centers, the Lebanese state remains largely absent in relief actions for the unfolding humanitarian crisis in its streets.
Despite the destruction, danger, and uncertainty, civilians are volunteering their time and fundraising money for communities displaced by Israel’s brutal escalation. Many post requests on social media for clothes, ingredients, mattresses, pillows, and blankets, redirecting their followers to donation sites and payment transfer services to support the displaced. Excel sheets listing available shelters and apartments are also circulating with relevant information about contact numbers, locations, and costs, if any.
Grassroots and non-profit organizations that helped service impacted communities after the Beirut port explosion in 2020 are allotting daily schedules for volunteering services and operational requests for necessary ingredients, packaging, and distribution of multiple meals to provide to the growing number of displaced people.
Photo courtesy of Natalia Halabi.
Speaking to Palestine Square on Oct. 1, Rami El-Sabban, a Lebanese activist and organizer, recounted his experience organizing and volunteering with local kitchens as they continue to mitigate the impact of mass displacement in Beirut.
After the Beirut port explosion in 2020, I stepped out and saw people older than me immediately pick up their brooms to start cleaning our streets. I had this big epiphany, like, okay –– this is just what we do. And suddenly, I wanted to do this and needed to do this all the time. We don’t wait for the state to help anymore. It’s on us; we know we’re here for each other, so we just dive straight into the work.
Some of our operations start as early as 7 a.m., depending on what material we have available to us. It’s a three-fold process: field donors and donation distributors provide us with products and ingredients, then the assembly line makes sure everything is prepared, including meals and packaging, and, finally, logistics teams are responsible for drop-off. We’re probably producing 5,000 to 10,000 meals every day.
Photo courtesy of Natalia Halabi.
This coalition of local volunteer organizations was a slow movement. It definitely picked up after 2020, when the national spirit turned toward baladi (my country). Everything we produce is for, and from, our nation. This movement is about dropping your shoulders, having a laugh, and marching forward because you know you’re around good people who care about the Lebanese collective and who also care about freeing Palestine.
But of course, I’m stressed, man. Every day it’s getting harder and harder. We don’t have the manpower to feed over 500,000 people, and more are still being displaced by Israel. But we’re still trying to make sure that everybody in need is being taken care of: Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese, migrant workers. Sometimes the fear comes. When it does, I look up at the sky, like an old man, and tell myself to shut up. We’re joyful people, we love life, and right now, we’re still living. Nothing is going to stop me from doing this, from helping our people.
