Humanitarian crisis looms in Lebanon where nearly 750,000 people have been displaced by war

A humanitarian crisis is looming in Lebanon where more than 750,000 people have been displaced since the U.S. and Israel began their war with Iran.

A humanitarian crisis is looming in Lebanon where more than 750,000 people have been displaced in the 12 days since the U.S. and Israel began their war with Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, figures released by the Lebanese government show.

The pace of displacement was “unprecedented,” along with the “panic, also, that this has all created,” Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters on Tuesday. More than 100,000 people were registered as displaced between Monday and Tuesday alone, the data showed.

The majority come from Lebanon’s south, where the Israeli military has enforced sweeping evacuation orders while launching multiple strikes on the region, a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. military has not struck Lebanon.

Displaced people in downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square.Bilal Hussein / APThe Israeli military said Tuesday that it was “operating with determination” against Hezbollah after the Tehran-backed group launched missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Since the start of the war Feb. 28, more than 570 people have been killed and around 1,400 injured as of Tuesday, according Lebanese government figures. Scores of children are among the dead, according to UNICEF.