At the end of September 2024, Israel escalated its attacks against Lebanon, in what appears an extension of the genocide in Gaza. Israel has deployed similar tactics of targeting civilians and causing mass displacement.

Solely on Monday 23 September, at least 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, were killed and more than 1,800 injured by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. This was deadliest day since the end of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990. 

The number of civilians displaced has surpassed 1 million, with a reported 100,000 seeking refuge in Syria.

Among the population affected by Israel’s military attacks on Lebanon are crucially Palestinian refugees residing there since they were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias in the 1948 Nakba.

UNRWA’s current estimation is that around 250,000 Palestinian refugees currently reside in Lebanon. In addition, UNRWA records show a total of 31,400 Palestinian refugees from Syria residing in Lebanon. Poverty rates among Palestinian refugees are high with 80 per cent reported to be living below the national poverty line as of March 2023.

On October 1, 2024, Israel attacked Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp. Video shows the first moments after an Israeli air attack hit the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, housing more than 130,000 Palestinians, killing several people and devastating the area. An Israeli missile has killed at least 5 people and destroyed several buildings.

Palestinians, as other Lebanese civilians, have been severely affected by Israel’s bombing campaigns targeting Beirut and other areas. It is reported, for example, that a large segment residents from the Burj el Barajneh refugee camp have been displaced, due to Israel’s targeting of the Dahyieh neighbourhood in the southern suburb of Beirut.

UNRWA has declared the activation of its Emergency Response in Lebanon on 24 September 2024, immediately opening two emergency shelters. Between 25 September and 27 September, UNRWA has opened five additional emergency shelters, bringing the total number of operational UNRWA emergency shelters to seven.

The Palestinian Return Centre condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s attacks and invasion of Lebanon, a violation of a sovereign country, and its targeting of Palestinian refugees, one of the most vulnerable populations in the country.

The PRC reaffirms that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have an inalienable right to return to the places to which they have been displaced by Israel in 1948. This latest Israeli attack, featuring genocidal practices developed in the campaign in Gaza the past year, seek to eliminate Palestinians so as to prevent the possibility that refugees will one day return to their homeland.

The PRC calls on the international community to pay particular attention to Palestinian refugees, as well as Lebanese civilians, as the Israeli state is likely to continue deployed genocidal techniques developed in Gaza, which include mass expulsions and mass killings. The international community should take all available measures to intervene and stop the Israeli invasion before it is too late.