UNITED NATIONS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- UN peacekeepers are deeply concerned about the escalation of fire between Israelis and Hezbollah along the Blue Line in southern Lebanon, affecting civilians, a UN spokesman said Monday.
Over the weekend, UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers reported "continued heavy exchanges of fire in both directions along the Blue Line, as well as intense airstrikes across their area of operations in southern Lebanon," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for the UN secretary-general.
The hostilities continue to drive north the mass displacement of civilians in southern Lebanon, he said.
Dujarric said UN humanitarians reported that more than 1.2 million people, or around one in every five residents, have been forced to flee their homes. Of them, more than 130,000 people, including around 46,000 children, are sheltering in more than 600 collective sites nationwide, most of which are already at full capacity.
The spokesman said the humanitarians warned that the figures would rise further as hostilities intensify, with Israeli authorities announcing plans to escalate ground operations along the Blue Line.
Humanitarians are deeply concerned about continuing attacks on healthcare, including health workers, health facilities and ambulances. As of Monday, the World Health Organization reported 64 attacks on healthcare facilities, resulting in 51 deaths and 91 injuries, further straining an already fragile health system.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the world body and its partners continue to scale up assistance, in close coordination with the Lebanese government.
The UN Refugee Agency said that, working with its partners, more than 90,000 mattresses, 50,000 sleeping mats, and 110,000 blankets were distributed to collective sites across all of Lebanon's governorates.
The OCHA said that the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners distributed thousands of hygiene kits. They have also provided shelters with nearly 600,000 liters of clean water. More than 485,000 liters of fuel have been provided to sustain public water supply services.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, who just returned from a visit to Lebanon last week, said that of the more than 1 million people displaced in the country, about 370,000 are children.
He said 118 children have been killed and 372 injured in Lebanon since the escalation began.
"If you add those two numbers up, that's the equivalent of a classroom of children every day that's killed or injured," Chaiban said, adding that there is fear that conditions are going to get worse in Lebanon before they get better.
In a briefing to reporters, he said that more than 350 public schools are used as shelters, disrupting the education of around 100,000 students.
"Though efforts (are) underway to provide access to online education and other ways for children to access learning and teaching, as we know, schools provide more than learning," Chaiban said. "They offer structure, protection and continuity. When schools close or are repurposed, those stabilizing elements are lost." ■
