Arab News | 1 in 5 Lebanese households says children go to bed hungry, UN Children’s Fund warns

LONDON: Children are going to bed hungry in at least one in five households in Lebanon, and a similar proportion does not have enough safe drinking water, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Wednesday.

Prolonged conflict and displacement are inflicting deep and lasting harm on youngsters in the country, the agency warned.

The ongoing crisis in Lebanon has left an estimated 770,000 children and young people suffering from psychological distress, UNICEF said, as families contend with rising food insecurity, interrupted schooling, limited availability of healthcare, and shrinking economic prospects.

“Children and young people in Lebanon are being asked to bear a burden no child should have to carry,” fund’s representative in Lebanon, Marcoluigi Corsi, said.

“Without urgent and sustained action, these pressures are shaping their lives for years to come.”

In a report published in September, UNICEF noted that about one in three surveyed families said their children had missed needed medical care, primarily because they could not afford it.

Fourteen percent said at least one child was working, more than double the proportion reported in January 2025.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, amid the wider regional war with Iran, has compounded those pressures; since March 2, at least 261 children have been killed and 1,056 injured, UNICEF said, an average of seven killed or wounded each day over the past six months. About 12 percent of injured children are living with disabilities, underscoring the long-term effects of the violence.

Schools have also been badly affected; 436 have been damaged or destroyed, UNICEF said, putting about 100,000 children at risk of losing access to education. Eighty-six teachers have been killed or injured.

Even in places where schools remain open, financial strains and trauma are disrupting learning; 46 percent of families said they had reduced spending on education, and 17 percent said their children had stopped attending school altogether. Among children who remained enrolled, 29 percent were not able to learn as normal, often because of emotional distress or difficulty concentrating.

The agency said the emotional toll was widespread. More than half of households reported that their children’s emotional well-being had deteriorated over the previous six months, and 63 percent said their children were anxious or nervous.

UNICEF said humanitarian aid alone could not address the scale of the needs in Lebanon.

“Without urgent and sustained action, an entire generation of children and young people risks carrying the scars of this crisis into adulthood,” Corsi said.

Nearly six months after an April 17 ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that was intended to halt all hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, airstrikes and home demolitions in Lebanese territory have continued, UNICEF said.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported continuing airstrikes, shelling, demolitions and military activity across southern Lebanon.

More than 1 million people were displaced in the weeks following the escalation earlier this year, and nearly 330,000 have not yet returned because of continuing attacks and widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.