According to Lebanon’s health ministry, 105 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across the country since Sunday.
Israeli bombardment continued over the weekend, with one of the victims being a 6-year-old girl, Selena al-Samara, who died on Saturday at her home in the southern city of Tyre. Selina’s sister, 10-year-old Celine, survived but was seriously injured.
These two sisters regularly attended art workshops run by an NGO.
In a photo shown to UN News, Selena is seen showing off an artwork she made the day before the attack. In a video, her sister also says how this art workshop makes her happy and connects her with friends.
“We will continue to work for these children and young people during this war, as long as we can,” said actor-director Kasem Istanbululi, the NGO’s president.
The organization aims to extend arts education to marginalized populations across Lebanon and build social connections between divided communities.
Kasem Istanbululi was awarded the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture in 2023.
In 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recognized Kasem Istanbuli’s efforts to reopen theaters closed during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and mobilize youth for positive change.
Migration to Syria
Meanwhile, the United Nations Refugee Agency-UNHCR reported that nearly 100,000 displaced people have fled to neighboring Syria.
Filippo Grande, head of the United Nations refugee agency, said in a social media message that the migration to Syria is continuing.
He said the organization’s teams are ready to help refugees arriving at four border posts inside Syria.
The massive displacement is due to a recent escalation of fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.
On Monday, Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif al-Amin, was killed in an Israeli attack on a Palestinian refugee camp. His family also died in this attack.
Other organizations including the United Nations Refugee Agency – UNHCR and the United Nations Humanitarian Assistance Agency for Palestine Refugees – UNRWA are providing humanitarian relief.
UNRWA has set up about 9 shelters, accommodating 3,350 people.
The United Nations Disaster Relief Coordination Agency – OCHA – said that nearly 90 percent of the nearly 1 million people displaced from Lebanon had to leave their homes in the past week.
“This displacement has now exceeded 2006 levels, as a result of Israel’s harsh offensive against the population and evacuation orders,” OCHA said in a social media message.