Following the widescale Israeli bombings of multiple areas in Lebanon on Monday 23 September, we are gradually stepping up our response to the escalating humanitarian needs. MSF teams are providing general healthcare and essential relief items to displaced people. According to the Ministry of Health, 558 people have been killed and 1,835 injured, with thousands more forced to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere in the country.

Our teams are distributing non-food items, including mattresses and hygiene kits, to collective shelters across the country, and our mobile medical units provide general and mental health care to shelters for those in need. In addition, we are running mental health helplines, offering psychological support to displaced and affected people during this time of distress.

We continue to coordinate closely with our partners and hospital networks, offering support where possible as the situation develops.

Since yesterday, some of our staff in southern Lebanon, Beirut, and other parts of the country left their homes, with people fleeing and spending hours in congested traffic as they seek refuge in safer locations. In southern Lebanon and Baalbek-Hermel, areas that continue to experience heavy aerial strikes, MSF staff reported bombardments in close proximity to their homes. Many of our staff there were still sheltering in their homes, while Israeli warplanes continued to fly overhead and throughout the night.