Minister of Social Affairs: 82% of the Lebanese are Poor

Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar (NNA)
Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar (NNA)
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Minister of Social Affairs: 82% of the Lebanese are Poor

Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar (NNA)
Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar (NNA)

Lebanon’s Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar highlighted “the increase in the proportion of poor people in Lebanon since 2019.”
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said that the “rate of multidimensional poverty among the Lebanese has reached 82 percent,” while 32 percent of the population was suffering from extreme poverty.
According to Hajjar, “the war in the South negatively affected many families who were unable to collect their agricultural crops,” revealing that the ministerial committee supposed to be monitoring the situation in the South has not met even once since its formation.
The National Strategy for Social Protection, which was approved by the government in February, constitutes a major shift in the social policies. The strategy presents a comprehensive vision based on five pillars: social assistance, social security, social care, job opportunities for the most vulnerable, and financial support to access educational and health services.
Hajjar explained that his ministry began implementing this strategy, even before its approval, but pointed to the need to secure the necessary budgets, warning of “dangerous indicators in terms of reducing external funding, whether for the Lebanese or the Syrians.”
75,000 Lebanese families benefit from the national program to support the poorest families, but after the significant reduction in funding (from $147 million to $33.9 million), the Ministry was forced to reduce the amount being transferred.
Sobhia Najjar, a specialist in public policy and coordinator of the Social Protection for All campaign at the Center for Social Sciences for Applied Research (CESSRA), told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Today, we are not talking about one type of poor, but rather about multidimensional poverty, in light of the complete absence of the middle class that includes public sector employees, professors, judges, members of the army and security forces.”
Najjar pointed to several factors that contribute to the exacerbation of poverty.
Those include the economic crisis that led to high unemployment rates and a deterioration in the purchasing power of citizens, corruption, which affects the equitable distribution of resources and increases social and economic disparities, internal tensions and political instability.

 

 



Israel Carries Out New Raids in Gaza as Netanyahu Visits US 

This picture taken in Khan Younis shows smoke billowing during Israeli military operations in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
This picture taken in Khan Younis shows smoke billowing during Israeli military operations in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
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Israel Carries Out New Raids in Gaza as Netanyahu Visits US 

This picture taken in Khan Younis shows smoke billowing during Israeli military operations in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
This picture taken in Khan Younis shows smoke billowing during Israeli military operations in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

Israeli forces carried out new raids in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to address the US Congress.

The latest Israeli attacks destroyed homes in towns east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and thousands of people were forced to head west to seek shelter, residents said.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had received distress calls from residents trapped in their homes in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, but were unable to reach the town.

Israel's military, which is trying to eradicate the armed group Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, said it had been operating in areas from which fighters had been able to fire rockets into Israel and attack Israeli troops.

Gaza health officials said Israeli military strikes in the past 24 hours had killed at least 55 people, the latest casualties in a war that health authorities in the enclave say has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians.

"Where should we go? Shall we cross into the sea?" said Ghada, who has been displaced with her family six times during the war, said from Hamas City in northwestern Khan Younis.

"We are exhausted, starved, and want the war to end now, now not an hour later. Every day means more families are wiped off the registration book," she told Reuters via a chat app.

Local residents said they had been ordered to head west towards a designated humanitarian area, but that the area was now unsafe.

Israeli forces also carried out airstrikes on several areas of central and northern Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several Palestinians, health officials said.

Residents of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, said Israeli forces had blown up several houses in the west of the city.

PALESTINIANS CRITICISE U.S.

Hamas-led fighters triggered the war on Oct. 7 by storming into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies. Some 120 hostages are still being held though Israel believes one in three are dead.

Some Palestinians who gathered at a hospital in Khan Younis before funerals criticized the United States, Israel's most important international ally, for welcoming Netanyahu.

The Israel leader was due to address Congress later on Wednesday and to meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would meet Netanyahu in Florida on Friday.

"The United States is a main partner in what is happening in Gaza. We are being killed because of the United States. We are being slaughtered by American planes, American ships, American tanks, and American troops," said Kazem Abu Taha, a displaced resident from Rafah.

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters: "The Congress invitation to Netanyahu to make a speech gives legitimacy to the crimes of the war of genocide in Gaza. Receiving a war criminal is a shame to all Americans."

Israel has rejected accusations brought by South Africa at the UN's top court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign against Palestinians. It has reacted angrily to a decision by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to seek an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said this week a deal to release Israelis held captive in Gaza could be near. But Hamas officials said Netanyahu was stalling and that they had not seen any change in the Israeli stance that would allow an agreement to be reached.

Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas is eradicated.