Lebanon Prepares Safe Shelters Ahead of Possible Conflict

A ministerial meeting at Lebanon’s Grand Serail: Photo: X account of the premiership
A ministerial meeting at Lebanon’s Grand Serail: Photo: X account of the premiership
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Lebanon Prepares Safe Shelters Ahead of Possible Conflict

A ministerial meeting at Lebanon’s Grand Serail: Photo: X account of the premiership
A ministerial meeting at Lebanon’s Grand Serail: Photo: X account of the premiership

Lebanon's government has completed its emergency plan to handle a possible conflict with Israel and has fully prepared its administrative, health, and logistical agencies.

The plan primarily involves converting public schools into shelters for displaced people and equipping them with necessary supplies.

Israel's military and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have traded strikes since the current war in Gaza began, but tensions have escalated since an Israeli strike in a Beirut suburb killed Fouad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, last month. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate.

In a recent ministerial meeting, Lebanese caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who heads the Emergency and Disaster Response Committee, said the goal was to “ensure the readiness of crisis cells across all provinces and strengthen them if needed.”

Yassin explained that discussions with governors focused on the shelters. A list of these has been created in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, which is working with a taskforce to prepare the schools.

He added that the committee and the Ministry of Education are preparing more schools for emergencies, verifying their readiness and ensuring they have essential supplies.

These shelters will be equipped with bedding, hygiene products, and food. Funding will come from the treasury and support from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other international organizations.

Yassin noted that if displacement reaches levels seen in 2006, with about one million displaced, the committee will need $100 million per month. This funding will be secured through emergency credits and support from international organizations.

The Committee is compiling a list of shelters and evaluating their capacities.

A committee source told Asharq Al-Awsat that shelters are selected based on several criteria: they must be located away from high-risk areas, have enough space and basic facilities, and be easily accessible from regions affected by Israeli airstrikes.

The shelters also need to allow easy entry and exit for relief teams. The source confirmed that all selected shelters meet these requirements.



Polio Vaccination Starts in North Gaza Despite Obstacles

A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Polio Vaccination Starts in North Gaza Despite Obstacles

A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A medic administers a polio vaccine to a Palestinian girl at the al-Daraj neighborhood clinic in Gaza City on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

The campaign in north Gaza, the part of the territory hardest hit by Israel's 11-month military offensive against Hamas militants, follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.

Medical staff had started administering vaccines in the north despite a dire need for fuel, among other challenges, said Dr. Moussa Abed of the primary care unit in Gaza's health ministry.
Vaccination centers are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, said Sam Rose, a deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
"There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he told Reuters by text message.
On Monday, Israel stopped a convoy that included vehicles and fuel for the vaccination campaign as well as a World Health Organization team trying to get to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital and the mission had to be aborted, the WHO's Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in a briefing.
'EXTREMELY DIFFICULT'
Israel also issued an evacuation order in north Gaza, the first in more than two weeks, that included areas that are part of humanitarian pause zones agreed upon for the polio vaccinations, according to a UN update on Monday.
"The centralization of services in the south makes it extremely difficult for us to get fuel, to get access to vaccinations, and to all other logistics," Mahmoud Shalabi of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a UK-based charity, told Reuters via a spokesperson.
"There is still no fuel for the movement of vehicles for vaccination teams in the north."
The campaign to vaccinate some 640,000 children in Gaza began on Sept. 1, following confirmation by the WHO last month that a baby had been partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
The campaign in north Gaza aims to conclude a first vaccination round, with a second set to commence after a month.