UN Provides Fuel to Maintain Critical Services in Lebanon

Barbers shave their customers outside their shop due to a power cut in Beirut, Lebanon, August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Barbers shave their customers outside their shop due to a power cut in Beirut, Lebanon, August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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UN Provides Fuel to Maintain Critical Services in Lebanon

Barbers shave their customers outside their shop due to a power cut in Beirut, Lebanon, August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Barbers shave their customers outside their shop due to a power cut in Beirut, Lebanon, August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The United Nations has said that a $383 million humanitarian plan was launched three months ago to deliver crucial life-saving humanitarian assistance to most vulnerable Lebanese and migrants affected by the economic crisis in Lebanon.

“From the end of September, and as part of the Emergency Response Plan launched by humanitarian actors to step up assistance for the most vulnerable populations affected by the on-going crisis in Lebanon, 3.1 million liters of fuel have been provided to 515 critical facilities delivering vital services, including over 195 health facilities and 320 water pumping stations so far,” said Dr. Najat Rochdi, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, in a statement issued Friday.

“This exceptional fuel distribution to healthcare and water facilities across Lebanon has been ensuring provision of critical health, water and sanitation services to the most vulnerable populations affected by the ongoing energy crisis and preserve lifesaving humanitarian activities in all districts” she said.

Rochdi noted that the development of the fuel delivery plan has been covering all governorates, allowing the most vulnerable people to continue getting access to functioning health services and to safe drinking water.

“More than 300 water pumping stations have been provided with fuel, lessening most vulnerable families’ dependence towards more expensive alternatives such as bottled or trucked water tankers,” said the statement.

Over the past weeks, the emergency fuel supply has also been guaranteeing uninterrupted health activities to those most in need in Lebanon.

“The provision of emergency fuel has allowed 24 public hospitals to remain open, supporting more than 887 functional hospital beds, including care for COVID-19 patients,” Rochdi said.

She called on the Lebanese government to take its responsibility in ensuring that families have unhindered access to essential services and in implementing necessary measures to address the energy crisis.



Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," the text said, according to Reuters.
"We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it for him as he is recovering from a cold.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope's 'state of the world' speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.
But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested
the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope's text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups "a source of deep concern."
Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.