The war between Hezbollah and Israel has seen areas of southern Lebanon and Beirut pummelled by airstrikes.
An international aid conference for Lebanon held in Paris has raised a total of $1 billion (€930 million) dollars in pledges to help the country as Israel steps up its attacks.
According to the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, the conference collectively raised €740 million in humanitarian aid and €185 million for the Lebanese security forces.
French President Emmanuel Macron had called on participants of the conference, which convened more than 70 countries as well as international organisations, to come to Lebanon’s assistance.
“In the immediate term, massive aid is needed for the Lebanese population, both for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war and for the communities hosting them,” Macron said in his opening speech.
Macron pledged that France would provide a €92.5 million package of its own. Italy announced a donation of €10 million, and Germany pledged an additional €60 million.
The conference’s French organisers hope that the collective pledges will be enough to meet the funds the UN says are urgently needed for humanitarian aid.
“What is needed is to shelter the families, feed the children, care for the wounded and continue to provide schooling for the pupils,” Macron said.
Earlier this month, the United Nations estimated that Lebanon needed at least $426 million (€394 million) to support 4 million-odd residents in need of humanitarian aid.
The war between Hezbollah militants and Israel has displaced millions of Lebanese people, killed more than 2,500, and deepened the country’s already severe economic crisis.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since the start of the war in Gaza last October. The conflict escalated in September of this year when thousands were injured in Lebanon after Israel remotely detonated rigged pagers and walkie-talkies that had been sold to Hezbollah via a front company.
In his remarks at the conference, Macron reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire and criticised Israel for continuing its military operations in Lebanon.
Posting on social media platform X, Macron said that Israel’s existence and security are non-negotiable for France, but pointed out that “adding war to war brings neither peace nor security, neither for Israel nor for anyone in the region”.
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