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At the emergency reception center in Tyre Governorate, southern Lebanon: “We have never been so afraid”
Volunteers at the emergency reception center of the Union of Municipalities in Tyre Governorate were mobilized to receive a new wave of displaced people from southern Lebanon. Within a few hours, 36 families, a total of 150 people, arrived at the center located in the town of Tyre.
“That's how many people we received in four hours. It's a lot. On a normal day, we register three or four families.”“The families who arrived today are from Zebqin, Yatar, Bint Jbeil and Leila… the villages targeted in the preemptive strikes carried out by Israel on Sunday morning,” said Mortada Mahna, who is in charge of the emergency reception unit for the displaced.
Jamila, 38, fled Zebqin with her two sons, aged 8 and 8. “We were never so afraid before. This was the first time they had bombed so hard. There were explosions from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m., including a very intense phase that lasted from an hour to an hour and a half. Fires broke out in the fields around the village. Everything was on fire.”This Lebanese mother says.
It was one of the last remaining families in the village of Zebqin. “All our neighbors are long gone.”She continues. She plans to stay one night in one of the five schools provided by the Tyre municipality for the displaced from southern Lebanon. “We'll let you know tomorrow if it's possible to come back.”She said she has family in Majd al-Salem, another village in southern Lebanon, but the area is also subject to frequent shelling.
IDPs registered at the Tyre reception centre – more than 28,000 out of 102,000 listed by IOM – are welcomed in these five schools or with their families. Families are being given kits containing mattresses, blankets, food and water. “NGOs also provide support, but out of 51 registered NGOs, only five are actually active. The others will only step in when the situation deteriorates. When the situation is calm, we receive little help even though we have been welcoming thousands of families for months.Mr. Mahna denounces.