UNICEF: 19,000 children displaced daily in Lebanon amid Israeli strikes

2026-03-27 - 12:00

An average of 19,000 children have been forced from their homes daily in Lebanon over the past three weeks as Israeli strikes continue to batter the country, a UNICEF official said Friday. Marcoluigi Corsi, the agency’s representative in Lebanon, told a UN briefing in Geneva that more than 370,000 children have been displaced in just three weeks—a figure he described as the equivalent of “hundreds of school buses filled with children fleeing for their lives every 24 hours.” Mass displacement strains communities and services Corsi said the broader crisis has uprooted over one million people in less than a month, representing roughly 20 percent of Lebanon’s population. He characterized the displacement as “sudden, chaotic mass displacement” that is “tearing families apart and hollowing out entire communities.” More than 135,000 displaced individuals are now sheltering in over 660 sites, many of which are overcrowded and unsafe. Basic services are collapsing, with water systems damaged and more than 435 schools repurposed as shelters, disrupting education for over 115,000 students. Children suffer deadly toll and lasting trauma At least 121 children have been killed and 395 injured since hostilities intensified, according to UNICEF. Corsi warned of severe psychological consequences, stating that the “relentless cycle of bombardment and displacement” is compounding psychological scars and embedding deep-seated fear that threatens long-term emotional harm. “The human cost of this escalation is shocking,” he said, emphasizing that children are bearing the heaviest burden. The official called for an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian access, adding: “They need to stop running and start living as children should.” Türkiye responds to unfolding humanitarian crisis As Lebanon’s displacement crisis deepens, Türkiye has positioned itself as a key humanitarian actor, maintaining channels for aid delivery and expressing growing concern over regional instability along its southern Mediterranean border. Ankara has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities, warning that the collapse of civilian infrastructure and mass displacement threaten to destabilize the broader region.