Over 1.2 Million People in Lebanon Expected to Face Acute Hunger: UN-Backed Report
A UN-backed report warns that over 1.2 million people in Lebanon will face acute hunger this year due to conflict, displacement, and economic pressures. The figure marks a sharp deterioration from pre-war estimates, and urgent agricultural support is needed to prevent further crisis.
Over 1.2 million people in Lebanon are expected to face acute hunger this year due to “conflict, displacement, and economic pressures” amid the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a United Nations-backed report.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), and Lebanon’s Ministry of Agriculture issued a joint statement on Wednesday, saying 1.24 million people are “expected to face crisis-level or worse food insecurity” between April and August.
This figure, part of a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed group that monitors hunger and malnutrition, marks “a significant deterioration” from the outlook before the war erupted on March 2, the statement said.
Before March, “an estimated 874,000 people, about 17 percent of the population, were experiencing acute food insecurity,” the statement noted. But “the intense escalation of violence” has “reversed recent food security gains in Lebanon and plunged the country back into crisis.”
“Families who were just barely scraping by are now being pushed back into crisis as conflict, displacement, and rising costs combine, making food increasingly unaffordable,” said Allison Oman Lawi, WFP’s country director in Lebanon.
Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO representative in Lebanon, said: “The compounded shocks are undermining agricultural livelihoods and impacting food security, underscoring the urgent need for emergency agricultural support to help farmers and prevent further deterioration.”
A ceasefire that took effect on April 17 has reduced the intensity of fighting between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah, a conflict that has killed more than 2,500 people in Lebanon and displaced over one million, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israeli forces are operating in southern Lebanon near the border, where residents have been warned not to return, and both sides continue to exchange fire despite the ceasefire.
“Acute food insecurity is likely to deepen without timely and sustained humanitarian and livelihood support,” the statement said.
