Four weeks into the latest escalation of conflict in Lebanon, Israel’s ongoing bombardment and the subsequent forced displacement of people is severely impacting people’s lives and their access to essential services, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF calls for the protection of civilians and healthcare, and for an end to measures that force people indefinitely from their homes.

Since 2 March, civilians have faced increasingly dire conditions, as a marked escalation of attacks by Israeli forces has forced more than one million people from their homes and disrupted their access to healthcare. According to the Ministry of Health, 1,039 people have been killed – 12 per cent of whom are children – between 2 and 23 March.

Combined with ground attacks and repetitive airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure such as bridges in southern Lebanon, these actions are effectively isolating large cities and numerous villages south of the Litani river, along with their remaining residents, from the rest of the country.