Thousands of displaced families are sleeping on the Corniche sidewalks, the beach, and in public squares, left without shelter. Other families are forced to negotiate or even open school doors themselves to avoid sleeping in the open, amidst a series of municipal directives restricting the housing of displaced people. This situation is a direct result of the government’s shortcomings in its plan to accommodate the growing number of displaced people, exacerbated by Israel’s orders to evacuate more than 80 towns in the south and all of southern Beirut.
As of Thursday, March 5, 33 shelters had been opened in Beirut, and the number reached 88 after the mass threat to the southern suburbs on March 5. This number is very small compared to the 181 shelters opened in Beirut alone during the 2024 war.
We urge the government not to repeat the mistakes of the 2024 emergency plan, which was delayed and whose failures we have already thoroughly reviewed. Therefore, we are here to reiterate the following options for effectively responding to the escalating displacement crisis, in light of the evolving security situation and the imperative to guarantee the right to housing, which is being violated on an unprecedented scale during wars.
We also wish to emphasize that a significant part of the resistance lies in the resilience of the population, a collective responsibility that rests on the state and on us as individuals and groups, through ensuring a dignified life for them and supporting all those displaced by the Zionist enemy.