Country: Lebanon Source: Médecins Sans Frontières The destruction of Lebanese homes and villages has not stopped, as thousands of people remain displaced. Israeli forces are conducting daily airstrikes that have killed and injured hundreds of people. Evacuation orders continue to be issued, leading to the forcible displacement of thousands, while the complete destruction of homes and villages has not ceased. Hospitals in southern Lebanon, where Doctor Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are collaborating with the Ministry of Public Health to treat patients, continue to receive wounded people. ‘We have seen a range of severe injuries since the start of the nominal ceasefire,’ says Dr. Thienminh Dinh, an MSF emergency doctor who spends her days between Qana Hospital and Jabal Amel Hospital, both in the district of Sour/Tyre. ‘In one family alone, there was a toddler with facial lacerations, his 4-year-old sister with compound skull fractures, limb fractures, and bruising on her lungs. Their father had varying injuries, and their mother was also trapped under the rubble of their home.’ A Syrian refugee, who is a double amputee due to an airstrike a few weeks ago, woke up to the news that her 8-year-old son was killed in an airstrike, while her daughter had intestinal perforations due to shrapnel. How can we expect a mother to cope with this new reality? ‘Medical teams in both hospitals are working around the clock to treat patients, whose injuries can range from minor wounds to more severe ones, requiring advanced surgeries,’ says Dr. Dinh. Between April 18 and May 3, 173 wounded patients were admitted to Jabal Amel Hospital. The vast majority — 145 people — did not survive their injuries. A few miles away, MSF’s teams are witnessing a similar situation in two hospitals we support in the district of Nabatiyeh. Between April 26 and May 3, these hospitals received 65 injured patients, including two patients who later died from their injuries, as well as 26 people who arrived dead. People’s mental health is worsening ‘We don’t trust this ceasefire; it stole all of our remaining hope,’ says Samia*, a displaced woman from the south who now resides in Barja, a town in the district of Chouf a few miles above the Litani River. She returned home as soon as the ceasefire was announced, only to find out that her house was severely damaged. ‘If I was not feeling well before the ceasefire, now I am 100 times worse.’ To respond to people’s mental health needs, our teams in Nabatiyeh and South governorates are increasing the number and frequency of mobile clinics, reaching more remote communities and families who have decided to return home following the ceasefire announcement, whose mental health situation is deteriorating. ‘A Syrian refugee, who is a double amputee due to an airstrike a few weeks ago, woke up to the news that her 8-year-old son was killed in an airstrike, while her daughter had intestinal perforations due to shrapnel,’ says Dr. Dinh. ‘How can we expect a mother to cope with this new reality?’ We don’t trust this ceasefire; it stole all of our remaining hope. Many thought that the ceasefire announced three weeks ago would bring some relief to them and their families. The reality is different. ‘Two months into the escalation, the situation is becoming more complex, with patterns of violence and harm exacerbating over time,’ says Jeremy Ristord, MSF head of mission in Lebanon. ‘Without meaningful protection and uncompromised access to health care, displacement has neither brought safety nor safeguarded civilians.’ Since the announcement of the ceasefire, 385 people have been killed and another 685 have been injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health as of May 4. MSF response in Lebanon At Qana, Jabal Amel, Nabatiyeh Governmental, and Najdeh Al-Shaabiyeh hospitals, MSF teams remain on standby to provide additional support to already-exhausted medical teams in case of mass casualty events. We have sent a surgeon to support the operating theater at Jabal Amel Hospital, and we are training first responders and providing them with additional resources and equipment in Nabatiyeh and Sour/Tyre. *Name changed