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
TT
20

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.



Gaza Residents Stream Home to the North after Hostage Breakthrough

Internally displaced Palestinians make their way from southern to northern Gaza along Al Rashid road, central Gaza Strip, 27 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians make their way from southern to northern Gaza along Al Rashid road, central Gaza Strip, 27 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
TT
20

Gaza Residents Stream Home to the North after Hostage Breakthrough

Internally displaced Palestinians make their way from southern to northern Gaza along Al Rashid road, central Gaza Strip, 27 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians make their way from southern to northern Gaza along Al Rashid road, central Gaza Strip, 27 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed along the main roads leading north in Gaza on Monday after Hamas agreed to hand over three Israeli hostages later this week and Israeli forces began to withdraw from a main corridor across the enclave. 

A column of people, some holding infants in their arms or carrying bundles of belongings on their shoulders, headed north on foot, along a road running by the Mediterranean Sea shore, Reuters said. 

"It's like I was born again and we were victorious again," said Palestinian mother, Umm Mohammed Ali, part of the miles-long throng that moved slowly along the coastal road. 

Witnesses said the first residents arrived in Gaza City in the early morning after the first crossing point in central Gaza opened at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT). Another crossing opened around three hours later, letting in vehicles. 

"My heart is beating, I thought I would never come back," said Osama, 50 a public servant and father of five, as he arrived in Gaza City. "Whether the ceasefire succeeds or not, we will never leave Gaza City and the north again, even if Israel would send a tank for each one of us, no more displacement." 

Having been repeatedly displaced over 15 months of war, cheers erupted at shelters and tent encampments when families heard news that the crossings would be opened. 

"No sleep, I have everything packed and ready to go with the first light of day," said Ghada, a mother of five. 

"At least we are going back home, now I can say war is over and I hope it will stay calm," she told Reuters via a chat app. 

Hamas officials and ordinary Gazans have rejected a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged enclave, rekindling long-standing Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes. 

Children in warm jackets and carrying backpacks walked hand in hand, men pushed the elderly in wheelchairs and families posed for selfies as Hamas-hired officials in red vests directed them along the coastal road. 

DESTRUCTION 

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, residents of northern Gaza were due to return at the weekend. But Israel said that Hamas had broken the deal by failing to release civilian female hostage Arbel Yehud and kept its forces deployed in the Netzarim corridor that separates northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave. Late on Sunday, Qatari mediators resolved the dispute after Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to release Yehud, along with female soldier Agam Berger and another hostage on Thursday, two days before the next scheduled release of three more hostages on Saturday. Israel then gave the green light for a return to north Gaza from Monday morning. 

Hamas has also provided a long-awaited list of all hostages to be released during the first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, stating their condition. 

Israeli authorities have said they believe most of the 33, seven of whom have been released since the truce began on Jan. 19, are alive. 

Around 650,000 were displaced from northern Gaza during the war, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 2023 assault on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. 

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry. 

Many of those displaced have had to move several times as Israel designated parts of Gaza as humanitarian zones and then cleared them out before launching campaigns there. 

Much of Gaza now lies in ruins. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said returnees to the north need at least 135,000 tents and shelters as they try to reestablish their lives in the rubbled landscape of their former homes. 

According to the ceasefire, only unarmed people will be allowed to return north. Vehicles will be x-rayed to detect weapons and explosives. Israel's military warned Gazans not to transfer weapons with them or approach Israeli troops anywhere. 

Egyptian security personnel would supervise the return of Palestinians in vehicles along the Salahuddin Road, the main thoroughfare running north to south, with Hamas police officers close by, according to Hamas.